


We Stand Together

by VideoGamesAndRoses



Category: Destiny (Video Games)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Eventual Relationships, Eventual Romance, F/M, Flashbacks, Fluff and Angst, Original Character Death(s), Resurrection, Sad
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-27
Updated: 2019-07-29
Packaged: 2019-08-08 07:24:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 28
Words: 42,330
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16424957
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VideoGamesAndRoses/pseuds/VideoGamesAndRoses
Summary: Eden doesn't remember anything about herself. To make matters even worse, she's been thrown into a world where there is a Traveler and Darkness. And if that wasn't enough, Eden must begin a journey of self discovery and forging a future for herself and the people of the City. At least she has a fireteam to help her with all that.





	1. She Came From Nothing

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, this is my first time posting a story here so please go easy on me. I originally posted this story on Wattpad but decided to out it on here too. I hope you enjoy and thanks for reading!

"Eyes Up Guardian."

Those are the first words she hears before everything is thrown at her.

Her body aches and there's a pounding behind her eyes. She knows her name is Eden but she doesn't really know much of anything else except that she feels like she's been asleep for a really long time. Beyond the ringing in her ears, Eden hears the dulled sound of someone trying to speak to her. Slowly, she turns to look up and sees a little white and silver star. It spins it's back half and speaks in excited tones. All she makes out are bits and pieces.

She's been dead a very long time, he's her Ghost, and they need to go. Eden is confused about the first two, but she understands the last part pretty good.

Eden is quick to get up on her feet, running as fast as she can. The sound of growls and gunshots echo closer and closer behind her, reminding her she needs to run just a little faster if she wants to make it out alive. The little star, or Ghost as he calls himself, disappears into the flimsy armor that covers her body and he directs her on where to go and what to do. But he gives too many directions and her mind whirls around so fast she actually has to stop a minute to think clearly.

The Ghost apologizes and slowly tells her that she needs to find cover somewhere. Now that, she can do. With Eden no longer having to worry about doing a hundred things, she finds a small rusted shack a little ways off that looks perfect for her and her Ghost.

She sprints towards it and ducks in it in time to avoid some nasty looking, four-armed creatures. From her place in a far corner, she can see the creatures.

They're tall, taller than Eden by at least several feet, with scaly gray skin. Some, she can tell, are higher up on the command chain than others. The runts are tiny things compared to the rest. They've lost two arms and only hold a small pistol and a tiny dagger crackling with what looks like lightning. The armor it wears looks worse than Eden's own set.

The small creature stops for a moment, its harsh tongue ringing out to the bigger creature behind it.

The bigger creature is taller than its runt counterpart. All four arms hold onto a gun that looks way more secure and trustworthy than the runt's little pistol. Eden notices its armor is thicker, better. She wonders if this ensures that it won't die as quickly as the weaker one, but she really doesn't want to find out. Eden tucks herself further into the corner, both listening and watching closely.

It sounds harsh and cold, whatever it's saying, and the smaller one visibly flinches before moving on with the big one following.

Eden allows herself a sigh of relief until she sees the biggest stop in his tracks and look over at the building she's in.

This one must be the leader of the small, ragtag group of creatures. It's a lot taller than the others and at least twice their size. The gun in its four arms could tear Eden to pieces before she even had a chance to run. And though she had no weapon, one wouldn't help her. Its armor looks like its as thick as Eden's whole arm.

She holds her breath and waits for it to leave. Her heart is pounding out of her chest and her hands are shaking. Fear roots her body in place and all Eden can think is _please move on, please move on._

And finally, it does. She waits until the whole group is out of sight before she relaxes and releases a shaky breath. That was too close a call. Her Ghost tells her as much when he reappears. As he's talking to her, Eden begins to shiver and the cold nips at her body. Now that the adrenaline is gone, she's starting to realize that she's in a snowy plain in the middle of nowhere. She's starting to freeze under the frigid temperatures. Her teeth chatter as she stands and peers out of the shack, the Ghost's voice droning on behind her.

"Where are we?" She interrupts, gripping at her arms for warmth.

He pauses and looks over at her, blinking. His singular, blue eye stares at her a moment before he drops to her level, beeping, and chirping.

"We are in the Cosmodrome, in old Russia."

She nods but she isn't entirely sure what this place is still. It seems like her memory is in tatters and that nothing this little Ghost says will actually register with her. Instead, Eden drops her hands from her arms and stare right back at her Ghost.

"Well, where are we going?"

The little Ghost hums and then spins the back of his shell, answering, "We need to get you to the City. The Vanguard will be able to help us from there."

She doesn't know what that is either, but it sounds better than here. Actually, anything sounds better than being stuck in this frozen tundra with nothing but thin armor and a talking star, or Ghost, or whatever he is.

With exhaustion beyond the minutes she's been alive, Eden sighs and takes long strides out of the building and into the snow-covered ground.

"Alright, then let's go."

The Ghost makes a pleased beep and disappears into her armor again, silent but still there against the edge of her mind.

Seconds later, there is an arrow in her helmet's visor, pointing into the direction just off to her right, to the northeast.

Eden lifts her head in the direction and is met with the sight of a seemingly endless plain of snow, broken roads, and blue skies. She sighs and thinks that this could be worse. A lot worse.

Her boots leave footprints in the white powdery substance as she walks in the direction of the City. Every few steps, her body complains that it is too cold and that she is too tired. Eden almost stops every time until her Ghost says words of encouragement and then she is walking again. And when that isn't happening, she has to hide in cover from the creatures. (Fallen the Ghost calls them.)

All sense of time is lost to her as she and the Ghost walk and walk and walk. It could have been hours, or days, or weeks; she doesn't know. Finally, Eden almost gives up until Ghost speaks.

"We're on the grid now. I can summon a sparrow and get us there faster."

She doesn't know what a sparrow is but she'll take it over walking. Her hand lifts up and the Ghost hovers in her palm. Eden watches as he summons a sleek, narrow, black vehicle in front of her. She isn't sure how to drive it but Ghost reassures that she'll figure it out so she hops on.

It takes a few tries and near deaths, but she finally has it and they're speeding off.

The wind nips and bites with a stinging iciness but soon, the cold and snow fade, giving way to warmth and forests and a wall. Above it all is a smooth, white sphere. Ghost beeps in relief.

"There's the Traveler. We're almost there."

The only answer he gets back is the sparrow whirring faster and faster.

Upon approach, Eden begins to feel re-energized as they near the wall circling the City, almost like all her strength is returning slowly. The overwhelming satisfaction of actually making it helps too. Soon enough, she'd get her answers and understand what was going on.

Eden slows the sparrow down just short of the wall and gets off, removing her helmet and tucking it under her arm.

A man wearing a gray, heavily armored uniform approaches, looking over her curiously, but not seeming to be surprised at the sight of her.

Ghost materializes from her armor and immediately begins talking to him as if they were old friends. A few minutes later, they all head towards the wall. Soothing relief floods her aching body as she realizes that they've finally made it.

They made it to the City.


	2. Blue and Purple; Arc and Void

The City, a bustling place that's crowded and energetic. Something that Eden isn't quite used to. She almost feels like a small child, keeping close to her Ghost and the man he's talking with as they weave through the crowd of people.

A few times in the conversation, the man side eyes her but he says nothing to her, continuing to talk to her Ghost and give the white star curt nods and one word answers. Eden thinks that he's one of those silent types, only speaking when forced to. She appreciates it right about now.

As they walk between the tall, neural-colored buildings along the streets, people stop to stare at her, some gaping openly and others point excitedly. Their eyes follow her every movement curiously and it makes her well aware of every move she makes. It's really unnerving, if she's honest.

With one glove-covered hand, she pokes the shell of her Ghost and waits for him to look at her before whispering, "Have I done something wrong?"

He pauses his conversion with the man to look around at the lines of people milling up to watch them walk by. His eye lights up with realization and recognition.

"No, not at all. They've just never seen a newly resurrected Guardian this close before," He observes, his voice calm and soothing.

A newly resurrected Guardian?

That must be what she is. A newly resurrected Guardian. One of the many questions she has is sated, for now. She falls silent for the rest of the walk, at least until they reach the tallest building in the City.

Standing right at the bottom of it, she looks up and sees the Traveler hovering above it, like a watchful protector.

"This is the Tower," Her Ghost beeps as she stares in child-like awe.

The man only gives a huff of laughter at her expression and leads them to an elevator. He waits for both to settle before pressing a button and sending the elevator rushing upward. The City grows smaller and smaller by the second as they rise higher and higher. And then, just as fast as it starts, it stops. They are at a set of doors leading into the Tower.

The man mumbles good luck, gives her a little push toward them, and is racing back down the Tower. Eden gives the empty air a glare before she sighs and walks to it.

The door slides open and reveals a plaza filled with activity. People of all sorts are running around, talking and trading and working.

There are regular people, like her, and then there are blue-skinned people and robots she's never seen before. Awoken and Exo, her Ghost corrects her.

The pounding from before returns with a vengeance and throws her mind into disarray. The intake of information is too much for her to handle at the moment and her Ghost senses it, flying up to her face.

"It's okay. You'll be fine. Let's go talk to Zavala. He'll be able to explain everything you need to know," He soothes her.

The little Ghost hasn't lead her astray so far, he's proven that he can be trusted. Eden nods her head slowly and he brightens up, beeping and chirping. She watches as his little white shell flies forward and she follows after him.

Eden passes little shops set with vendors in them. Some look at her and go back to the Guardians in front of them, others ignore her completely. She doesn't mind, right about now she'd prefer the attention off of her. Instead, Eden allows herself to fall back to her mind.

Everything is so strange and she's not really sure what to make of it. With no memory to guide her, Eden's forced to rely on the Ghost and the Vanguard to help her. A part of her hates that she has to rely on them but if it meant she would get some answers and that she wouldn't die again, then so be it.

A loud, cracking voice draws Eden from her thoughts and she glances around her surroundings.

Two more vendors stand in an open hallway, both on opposite sides. One is a huge, towering guardian. His vermilion and white armor is thick and heavy, much better looking than Eden's own set. Fur lines the collar around his neck and his shoulders. A long curving horn that looks sharp enough to stab someone protrudes from the side of his helmet. Currently, his helmet is tilted to look down to a guardian that looks like he's ready to bolt out if fear. Eden stares curiously for a few moments before moving past without another glance.

A frame of a robot on the other side calls out a greeting to her and she notices that he looks just like the man. Same colors, same fur lining. The only difference is it's horns are smaller and it has two instead of one. She passes it by and enters a final room at the end of the hall.

The room is wide and long with large screens around the room. People stand at each of the screens, typing away or throwing responses back and forth to each other. But what really catches her attention is the large table stationed in the center of the room. There are three people sitting around each side. One human, one Exo, and one Awoken. The closest one to her is the human.

The woman has dark mocha skin. Eden thinks that it pairs well with the fuchsia, magenta, and ruby robes she wears. She has an air of intelligence and wisdom. Her dark brown eyes are calm as they look up from the book at Eden. The Ghost beside her whispers something to the woman and turns to stare at her as well.

And then like a domino effect, the Exo notices her too.

Bright, blue optics regard her curiously. His face is just a few shades darker than his cerulan eyes. The white plate of his forehead is the only thing that breaks the blue of his face, as well as the horn that peaks from underneath his hood. The Exo's Ghost watches her warily.

The last person to notice her is the Awoken.

He is so engrossed in his work that his Ghost has to actually nudge him.

Glowing eyes look from books up to her. His strong features swirl into a mask of curiosity as he looks over her. When he turns his head towards his Ghost, Eden can just barely see the faint white mark dusting over the bridge of his nose and above his eyes. The tendrils of glowing lines that trail over his skin at more noticeable than the mark. But the most noticeable thing is his presence. It pours respect and authority. She likes that. It means that he's a leader, and a good one at that.

"You must be the new Guardian we've heard about," The Awoken speaks up.

His voice is strong and commanding. It's so unexpected that it startles Eden, prompting her Ghost to answer him.

"Commander, it's good to finally meet you. And to you as well Ikora and Cayde."

Zavala and Ikora bow their heads in acknowledgment and Cayde shoots her and her Ghost a couple of finger guns.

Eden clears her throat and finally finds her voice.

"Who are you? Where am I? What is going on?" Are the three questions that blurt out first.

The Awoken, or Zavala, chuckles, and smiles at her.

"I am Commander Zavala, Vanguard of the Titans. You are on the Tower on the Last City of Earth, and there is much to tell you," He answers swiftly and flawlessly.

Eden likes him. He answers her questions honestly. She thinks that she could get along with him quite nicely.

"First, we need to see if you are a Titan, a Warlock, or a Hunter," Zavala says, standing straight with his hands behind his back.

The female, Ikora, faces forward  toward Eden.

"Focus your mind, Guardian. Let the Light flow through you," She states calmly.

Eden listens to her, closing her eyes and focusing. For a few minutes, nothing happens and she almost gives up. But then something builds within her and a strange sensation twirls around in her chest, stretching out to the rest of her body.

When she opens her eyes again, her hands are alight in different colors.

Her left hand is blue with bolts of lightning and static. It's racing up and down her fingers and palm, leaving tingly sensations. Her right one is covered in a slow moving purple light. It shields her hand and she feels it give her a steady intake of strength. Eden looks up to Ikora for guidance.

The female smiles and looks toward Zavala.

"Arc and Void. Defender and Striker. It seems that you have found another Titan, Zavala."

The Exo, Cayde, interrupts with a loud groan.

"And here I was betting that I was gonna get another Hunter," He sighs.

Ikora turns to him with a smirk.

"It is a good thing that you did not bet glimmer then Cayde."

As Eden watches Cayde's mouth drop and protests fall from him, she can't help but feel that there's an implied joke there. Before she can ask about it though, Zavala is already at her side, clapping a hand on her shoulder.

"Welcome to the Titans, Guardian."

 


	3. Her Very Own Fireteam

It's been three days since Eden's seen the Vanguard. In those three days, they'd given her a temporary room, new armor, a weapon, and a ship. They'd also taken the time to explain to what a Guardian was, what a Ghost was, and everything else in between, like the Traveler and the City and the Fallen. With that, they sent her off, telling her that she needed a fireteam before she could leave the Tower. They hadn't wanted a new Guardian to die so early on, they told her.

Her first day in the Tower, Eden explores. Every nook and crevice is discovered and she takes the time to learn her way around the Tower. Most everyone leaves her alone as she explores, even her own Ghost. The second day, Eden stays in bed, switching between making small talk with her Ghost and deciding upon a name for him. For some reason, she decides on Uriah. It just feels right to call him that and it seems to fit him. When she tells him, he's very happy and excited about it, whirling through the air and chirping. He loves it and tells her as much. Eden smiles for the first time and falls asleep, happy. On the third day, Eden wakes early, sweaty and fearful from a nightmare she can no longer remember. She gets up and takes a shower before slipping on and heading for the shooting range.

Eden stays for hours, honing her skills. From what she learns from Uriah that out there it is killed or be killed. Everything is based on survival because a guardian's survival means peace and tranquility can prosper among the City. Besides, her aim could use a little work if she's being honest.

Around the sixth hour in in, Eden receives a ping from the Vanguard saying that they need to see her. Uriah guesses they found a fireteam. She doesn't disagree with him.

Eden puts away her auto rifle and leaves the room. Banshee-44, the gunsmith, and a few guardians give her a nod of acknowledgment but most ignore her. That's something she'll have to get used to she guesses. It doesn't bother her though.

She makes her way around the Tower like a pro. Almost immediately, Eden is in the hallway leading to the Vanguard's table.

When she finally does arrive at the Vanguards table, there is a group of three waiting on her. She's grateful they don't look the least bit impatient and she can sense that Uriah feels the same way. In fact, the trio looks relieved that she showed up. Eden wonders why but it's quickly answered.

Cayde's telling one of his tall tales and he's pulled Ikora into it and the Warlock looks anything but happy. Her brown eyes are unusually calm and her words are quiet yet tense. This is something that she doesn't want to walk in on, but the conversation between the two stops once Ikora lays eyes on Eden.

"Titan, you're here. Come closer, I won't bite," She welcomes kindly.

Eden just barely hears Cayde mumble yeah right before the Warlock shoots him a glare that shuts him up. Zavala gives a sigh before he steps forward and addresses Eden.

"Now that you're here, we'd like to introduce you to your new team. This is Fireteam Nighthawk. They've agreed to train and mentor you."

Eden looks over at them as Uriah pops out, floating closer to them to inspect each one individually.

The trio consists of a human warlock, an exo titan, and an awoken hunter.

The Warlock looks just as much an intellectual as Ikora. He has a calm, collected air that tells Eden nothing ever bothers him, even in a heated moment. Lively forest green eyes shine with wisdom and kind intelligence as they look over her curiously. His dark brown hair is messily parted with a chunk falling slightly into his left eye. Some of it falls into the neck of his green, beige, and brown robes, which match him nicely. (She'll have to ask him later where he got the custom colors from.) A bright red Ghost floats around his shoulders and glances at her almost as curiously its Guardian.

The Exo Titan is, upon first look, intimidating with his grey, metal-plated face and hardened optics. A splash of indigo goes across his face, from his right eye down to his chin. Thick blue and gold armor makes him appear bigger, taller. A bold, gold Ghost makes its way over to her and looks her and Uriah up and down. Gently, she pushes it away from her and it flies back to its Guardian, who gives a muffled grunt.

The last one is the Awoken Hunter. He leans against the wall a little further away from the other two. Glowing turquoise eyes glance around the room, accessing everyone and everything. Glossy black hair is slicked to the left side of his face and away from his eyes. Navy, gray, and black armor blend in with the shadows surrounding him. In fact, Eden thinks that if she hadn't purposefully been looking for him, she would have never known he was there. His Ghost is the same way too. The only reason she knows it's there is the single, white eye blinking warily at her.

Eden straightens up and looks over at the Vanguard.

"Now that I have my very own fireteam, can I leave?"

Cayde bursts into a fit of laughter.

"Are you sure you're not a Hunter? Cause you're acting a lot like one of my Hunters," He says when he gets a moment of breath.

Eden cracks a smile. She's had a few days to hear some things about Cayde and his betting habits. She gets the feeling that what she's about to say will make Ikora proud.

"With all due respect, unlike you Cayde and your Hunters, I like to keep all the Glimmer I earn."

The Hunter Vanguard's mouth drops open and he looks offended. Ikora bursts out laughing and has to turn around to try and compose herself. Even Zavala cracks a smile.

The trio looks fairly impressed with what she's said and are all smirking at one and another.

After a moment or so, everyone gets serious again and Zavala turns to speak to her.

"Now that you have a fireteam Guardian, you may leave and return as you please. Remember to report back to me should anything come up. Good luck out there Titan," He salutes her.

Eden nods her head and thanks him before turning to leave, the trio following after her.

Eden looks at her Ghost and smiles. She's apart of a fireteam now, Fireteam Nighthawk.


	4. Guardians, Ghosts, and Their Names

 Eden's only taken a few steps out of the Vanguard when the Warlock begins talking.

"Well, first things first, we need to get you moved in."

Eden looks back at him curiously. Uriah, being much like her, looks curious and floats closer to them. She expects that he'll begin to question them in a moment. She's proven right as the little Ghost beeps and asks, "Moving in? The Vanguard never mentioned moving in with you."

The Titan chuckles at her Ghost as his optics look over them in faint amusement.

"It's just something we came up with. If you don't want to, you don't have to. But, I'd advise it," The Titan points out, roughly.

Eden and Uriah look at each other. They spend several seconds going back and forth talking it out. It's only when Uriah points out to Eden that she's new and she doesn't know anything about this world that they both agree it's a good idea. She turns back to the group.

"Alright, but only on the condition that we go do a mission, a bounty, something. I need to get out of here for awhile."

They chuckle at her response and follow her to the Bounty postmaster. The blue frame looks her over and allows her to search the board of missions and patrols. Eden finds one that's situated on Earth in the Cosmodrone. Clear out some Fallen getting too close to the wall. Simple enough.

She takes it off the board, shows it to the frame, and turns toward the trio.

"Alright, got an easy one. Let's go," She speaks, turning to walk away.

The Exo (she really needs to ask their names) grabs her arm and pulls her back.

"Whoa, first off do you have a ship to get there? Second off, do you have a gun? And third off, are you sure you're ready for this?"

She stops to think a moment, debating.

Uriah turns to her. She can feel him radiate confidence. He knows they're ready to do this. He's positive they can do it. If he believes they are, then she does too.

The Titan receives a confident nod before she's off toward the ship wright.

The plaza is nearly empty today. Only a few Titans and Warlocks mill around. The Titans salute her as she passes by and the Warlocks don't even spare her a look.

It bothers her none as she gives them all a wave in passing and hurries on. Eden flies down the hall and steps and almost crashes into Amanda Holliday, the ship wright master. Fortunately, the blonde-headed woman only laughs good-naturedly before saying slow down in her thick accent and walking on. Eden gives an apologetic nod of her head before she's rushing to the ship the Vanguard gave her.

The ship isn't brand new. It's an old thing they found out in the Cosmodrone that's been sitting around for weeks with nobody to take it. But to Eden, it's exactly what she needs. It'll take her where she needs to go and it'll hold her and her fireteam.

She boards it eagerly and goes to the front. When she sits, Uriah hovers up to her and tells her what to do. As he is, the trio board. The Titan and Hunter sit in the back and the Warlock sits in the front with her. After a few flipped switches, the ship is up and running. Uriah directs her hand to a lever and tells her to push it forward gently. As soon as she does, they're zooming out of the Tower and into the Cosmodrone.

It's silent as they fly, but not uncomfortably so. Actually, Eden doesn't mind it. In fact, she could use this time to ask their names.

"What's your name?" She asks the Warlock.

He glances at her ever so inquisitively and she sees the corner of his lips tip up before he looks forward again.

"I'm Lance. My Ghost is Clovis."

From the corner of her eye, she sees the Ghost lift off the shoulder facing away from her and bow it's body in greeting.

"And the other two?" She questions.

"The Titan is Axel-2, but he prefers Axel. His Ghost is Slate. The Hunter is Jaren and his Ghost is Lux."

She nods her head and goes back to steering the ship.

"What's your name?" He asks, after a minute.

"Eden. And...."

"And I'm Uriah!" Her Ghost spins and beeps, pleased with himself. Eden laughs at him before she turns back to piloting the ship.

The Warlock smiles at the two and stays quiet this time. The silence lasts until they make it to the Cosmodrone and Eden sets the ship down.

They all begin gathering their guns and putting their helmets on and when it seems everyone is ready, Axel's Ghost speaks up.

"Ready for transmit?" Everyone nods but Eden. She panics and looks toward Uriah. He only has time to shake his shell before Eden feels her body dissipate into tiny molecules. Seconds later, she's standing on the snowy plane of the Cosmodrone.

Her stomach squeezes with uneasiness. Dizziness blurs her vision as she tries to stand straight. Axel notices her swaying a little and puts a steadying hand on her shoulder.

"Sorry 'bout that. Suppose we should have told you the first time is the hardest, but you'll be fine."

She half-heatedly glares at the Exo but he's already walking away.

A sigh escapes her lips as she straightens up and glances at the ship as it zooms off and fades into the sky. It could've been worse, but it wasn't. Lance calls out for Eden and she turns back. They're a little ways ahead, waiting for her.

Time to collect that bounty of the Fallen.

 


	5. Quinn and Ava

Eden falls into the pilot seat, tired. Her armor is scuffed and dented where the Fallen's bullets have made an impact and she's died at least five times according to Uriah. Five more times than she expected. She sighs and leans further back in the seat.

The other three, however, look like they've just had the best day of their lives.

Axel looks as pleased as an Exo can look and Lance hums joyfully while looking over a piece of technology he found. Jaren sits in a dark corner of the ship, tossing a knife and murmuring to his Ghost. Every once in a while, she sees a flash of his glowing turquoise eyes under his hood and a small smile pulling at his lips.

Eden wonders how they can look so happy after all that.

The fight itself wasn't all that bad. In fact, for the first couple of minutes, she was having a fantastic time herself. She was caught up in the moment. That is until they brought in a Fallen Walker. Lance, in between shooting the Fallen, had briefed her on what it is and does. He explained that the Fallen used them often to protect the important higher-ups or technological things they find.

Things had gone bad for her after that.

Multiple Fallen Captains chased her around. The Walker stepped on her, blew her up, and electrocuted her. Then, of all the things to happen, she tripped and fell off a cliff nearby.

She should feel embarrassed by this point but Eden's just too tired. All she wants right now is to shower and sleep. First, though, she needs to report to the Bounty Tracker.

Eden sits up, flips some switches, and takes them back to the Tower. Thankfully, no one says anything about what happened and are content to sit in silence.

When they arrive, and the ship settles down, she is out and already walking toward the frame. Uriah appears and hovers around her shoulders and head as she walks up to the frame.

She hands him the bounty with a tired smile. He gives a satisfied beep and transmits glimmer to her. Eden takes that as she's free to go and turns to leave. As she does, she runs into someone.

It's not hard enough to make her fall, but still enough to make her stumble back a few steps. Whoever she ran into took most of the hit. All the scrolls, books, and papers in their arms go flying up everywhere.

"Watch where you're going!" A voice snaps at her.

She looks up to see steel gray eyes glaring at her coldly. Eden manages to mumble out one small apology and kneels to pick up the papers, embarrassed she hadn't seen the person earlier.

The person scoffs and bends over to pick up the books. Eden casts quick glances to the side to look at them.

The maroon and cream-colored robes give indication it's a Warlock. His dirty blonde hair is swept up and away from his face with only a few strands dangling around his proud features. A smoky black mark encircles his eyes and some of his nose, fading into his pale skin.

The whole look gives him the presence of someone not to be messed with. And that's exactly what Eden has done.

As quickly as she can, she picks up the scrolls and papers, neatly shuffles them in a stack, and hands them back.

"I'm really sorry," She says once again.

He merely gives her a cool glance before looking over his things.

"Ah don't worry about him, he's just a grouch bug," A new voice chirps next to her as an arm leans into her shoulder.

Eden startles and glances to her side.

A female Hunter stands there, looking playfully at the Warlock. She's pretty in a delicate sort of way, but she seems far from delicate.

Her bright blue eyes shine mischievously and a lopsided smile pulls at her rosy lips. Long, chestnut colored hair is swept out of her face and pulled into a ponytail.

She flashes Eden a wink before walking over to the Warlock.

"Quinn, don't be so uptight. Can't you see she's newly risen? Come on, you were there once too," She points out as she leans against his side, grinning at him.

The Warlock, or Quinn, sighs in irritation but Eden notices that his stare isn't as cold before.

"Alright, alright! You've made your point Ava," He says to the Hunter.

He brushes the Hunter off and places his things back in the crook of his arm, leveling Eden with a stern glare.

"Next time, be more careful."

Eden nods and mumbles one more apology, sheepish and regretful. Quinn seems satisfied with it and looks over her head, cold look fading from his face. Eden turns and sees her fireteam walking toward her. As they approach Ava's eyes widen and a grin breaks out on her face.

"Axel, Lance, Jaren, so nice to see you all again!" She exclaims.

Although the Warlock doesn't seem as happy to see them, Eden notices that he still gives them all a nod of respect.

"Ava, Quinn. It seems like you've met the newest edition of our team," Lance states politely.

Both Ava and Quinn look over at her in barely concealed shock. Eden finds it strange. The way that the Vanguard had talked, it wasn't a big deal adding someone to a fireteam. But, then again, she hadn't really been here long either. Either way, she could find a later day to ask. Right now, her shower and bed are calling to her.

Uriah seems to sense that she's tired and wants to go rest. When her little white Ghost chirps and flies toward the group, Eden thinks she could kiss him in gratitude.

"I hate to interrupt but, Eden and I are going to go ahead and go. Long day."

Lance and Axel nod. Jaren only gives her an examining stare.

"Well, it was nice to meet you. If you ever need us, just ask." Ava smiles cheerfully.

"It was nice to meet you too. And again, really sorry," Eden replies, directing the last part at Quinn.

He only gives her a glance and a tiny nod. Eden gives them rest of them a wave before walking away. It's only when there's footsteps walking next to her that she glances over.

Jaren has fallen into step beside her.

He looks up to see both Eden and her Ghost looking at him. And for the first time since she's met him, he speaks to her.

"Follow me. I'll show you which apartment we live in."

Slightly dazed, she nods and allows him to lead her to the rooms. All the way there, she's thinking about how his voice is smooth and deep. Eden doesn't notice the mildly interested look Uriah gives her.

Once they're there, Jaren leads her to one of the five doors in the apartment.

"This is your room. The bathroom is right down there past the living room. Let me know if you need anything else," He mumbles quietly.

As her door opens, he gives Eden one final dip of his head and disappears into the room next to hers.

With exhaustion weighing down her bones, she walks to the bathroom to shower so she can finally sleep.

 


	6. The Golden Age Professor

Sweat rolls and drips down her face as she takes another swing at the punching bag. The sound of flesh hitting leather echos around the empty room. Dust drifts from the ceiling as it rumbles and shakes gently. Uriah boots up from his place on a bench and floats over to her.

"Be careful! Zavala will make us replace that ceiling and bag if we damage it!" He scolds lightly, his single blue optic squinting at her.

Eden gives him an apologetic smile before wiping the sweat off her forehead and going back to punching. It's silent between the two for a few moments until Uriah speaks up again.

"So, what was that yesterday with Jaren?"

Eden momentarily pauses, a blush coating her face, before continuing with what she was doing.

"What do you mean what was that?" She inquires, breathy from the effort and being found out.

"So you weren't ogling over how deep and nice and smooth his voice sounded?"

Her breath catches and she chokes on air.

Uriah waits patiently until she's done before he eyes her with a knowing look. She returns it with a look full of shock.

"Are you in my head?" Eden exclaims, looking wary.

Uriah's shell droops in a sheepish way.

"Kind of. Since I'm your Ghost, we're connected. I can feel what you feel and hear what you think. Vice versa," He explains.

Eden doesn't know how to feel about it but there's nothing she can do except make the best of it. She eyes the Ghost before standing straight and walking over to the bench he'd been at.

Her muscles ache and burn as she sits and grabs a towel.

The Ghost flutters about her head and shoulders before setting on the curve of her right one.

"Well I guess it's not so bad. Just...don't say anything," She stresses the last part.

"Not a word," He acknowledges.

Eden smiles and rubs the towel across her face, wiping off the sweat. After she's done, she slings the towel across her neck, careful of the Ghost on her shoulder.

"So," Eden starts, grabbing the attention of the Ghost.

Uriah hovers off her shoulder to look her in the eye directly.

"I've been thinking and I think I'm gonna go talk to that guy we passed when we first got here. Shaxx, I think I heard someone call him?"

Uriah looks at her curiously.

"You mean Lord Shaxx, the crucible master? Why?" He queries.

"Why not?" She shoots back.

The little Ghost looks as dumbfounded as he can with one optical eye but he pulls it off. He stares at her for a few minutes before he shakes it off and looks at her with determination.

"Alright."

A single dark eyebrow rises as she looks at him.

"Alright?"

"Yes. Alright. Let's do it," Uriah affirms.

Eden smiles and stands up to leave the training room.

As she leaves, she automatically makes her way toward the apartment she now shared with her fireteam. She and Uriah remain silent as they walk, nodding to any Guardian that pass by. When they finally do arrive, there isn't anyone there but Lance, who's surrounded by stacks of old books and papers and datapads.

"Hey Lance, whatcha doing?" Eden asks as soon as she lays eyes on him.

The Warlock glances up at her before a genuine smile crosses his face.

"Eden, hello. I'm just going though some notes on theories that I have," He answers, glancing back down at the things in front of him.

Eden walks closer and glances over everything.

There's papers that mainly consist of the word Golden Age and such. The Traveler and how it came upon Earth. How the Light has enhanced Guardians and made them more than just a regular person.

"What's the Golden Age?" Eden asks, curiously looking over the papers.

"The Traveler sparked the arrival of it. Human life expectancy began to extend and we began to go out beyond Earth and colonize the solar system. There were advancements in technology, medicine. It was the greatest part of our history. We progressed and prospered until we didn't," He explains, still looking over the paper.

"What happened?"

Lance looks up, a grim expression on his face.

"The Collapse. The darkness found the Traveler. Some humans escaped back to Earth, some escaped to the far reaches of space, and others never made it."

Eden tilts her head but remains silent.

"Do you not remember the Golden Age?" He questions, drawing her attention to him.

"I really don't remember much of anything. So I'm not entirely sure I was apart of this Golden Age," Eden answers honestly.

Lance nods. "It's not unusual for a new Guardian not to remember who they were. Eventually, some remember and others don't," He concludes.

Uriah, who's been quiet for the last several minutes, speaks up.

"How do you know so much about the Golden Age?"

Crinkles form at the corner of Lance's green eyes and a slight smile forms on his lips.

"I used to be a professor in the Golden Age," He states proudly.

"That is....fascinating!" Uriah exclaims.

Eden laughs but nods. "That is interesting Lance."

"Thank you," He says with a smile. "Oh and I see your training went well."

"Yeah and now that it's over, I'm gonna take a shower and then head over to Shaxx," Eden mentions casually as she walks back toward the bathroom.

"You're going to the crucible?" Lance inquires at her back.

"Yeah, why not?" She replies, going into the bathroom.

"Good luck!" His voice muffles as she closes the bathroom door. Eden smiles, shaking her head.

Her damp training clothes are stripped off her body and she hops into the shower.

The warm water does wonders to her aching muscles and manages to wash away all the sweat from her earlier workout. After she's done, she slips on a body suit and, with help from Uriah, pieces of her mismatched armor.

Just before she leaves, she looks in the mirror.

Soft amber eyes stare back with a gentle intensity. The black kohl that lines them make them appear like molten gold. Her features are soft too, but there's a hardness to them, if she looks just right. Her short, choppy, black locks are still wet and glossy and fall against her tanned skin.

Somewhere in the back of her mind something whispers that she looks exactly like someone she used to know and love. Whoever it was, they were long lost to memories that were no longer there. Memories she no longer had access to.

"Is something wrong Eden?" Uriah says as he settles above her shoulders once more.

"No, not at all Uriah," Is all she says in return before she walks out of the bathroom.

Eden waves goodbye to Lance (who gives a distracted goodbye back) and walks towards the plaza, entering it a few minutes later.

It's particularly busy today as she maneuvers through the crowd. The feeling of so much Light is almost a little overwhelming but no less welcomed.

The crowd of Guardians is diverse with Exo, Awoken, and humans. Every fireteam is mixed and matched. Sometimes there's a team of a Titan, Warlock, and Hunter. Other times it's two Titans and a Hunter or two Hunters and a Warlock. Their Light is strong and entangled together.

And then, rarely from what she's sees, there are teams of two or just lone guardians. The pairs of two either have very strong Light like the fireteams or there is a missing link, like there should be one more pull of Light. And the lone guardians, she can feel the loss from some. She knows that they are missing a fireteam they used to have.

Eden hopes it never happens to her.

Finally though, she turns her attention back to her destination and heads toward the pathway that leads her down to the Vanguard.

Once she walks down the stairs and around the corner, she catches a glance of the person she's looking for.

"Not that I'm doubting you or anything but are you really really sure you wanna do this?" Uriah questions once more.

Eden looks at him with a mischievous glint in her eyes.

"You're not scared, are you?"

He looks at her, offended, before muttering something along the lines of his guardian picking the right class among other things.

Eden simply laughs and heads towards Shaxx.

 


	7. Crucible Match with a Sunbreaker

Three hours in and Eden is having the time of her life.

There's gunfire everywhere, mass chaos ensues as each team tries to capture the points, and Shaxx is roaring and screaming into the comms. Eden loves it!

"Hey, newbie, you and me are going B," A Titan calls out to her. She gives a sharp nod and turns to follow them.

When they get there, four of the six enemy team is standing and guarding it.

The Titan crouches and she follows their lead.

"Alright, taking that zone will win us the game. I can distract them if you go around and use your fist of havoc."

As soon as the words are out of their mouth, they're gone. Eden looks between the empty space they were just sitting in and Uriah. The little Ghost shrugs and shakes his shell.

"Well, you heard 'em Uriah. Let's go."

With that, she and Uriah watch as the Titan reappears on the opposite side of them, shooting at enemy team. The four turn and return fire tenfold of what the Titan is giving.

She looks at Uriah and gives him a nod before clambering over the cement block she'd been using as cover and begins to sprint toward them. Eden uses her momentum to jump up on a pile of rubble and high in the air.

As she begins to fall back to the ground, arc crackles and waves all around her. The enemy team stops their fire on the Titan to see her slam the ground around them.

Shaxx loudly congratulates her on the quadruple kill she got as their bodies disappear in an array of arc. The Titan gives her a thumbs up before moving to stand on the zone with her. They both wait to capture it.

When it hits about ninety-two percent, Shaxx announces thirty seconds left and they hear the heaving thudding of several boots running their way.

The Titan turns to them. "Stay on this point! I'll take care of them!"

And then, they sprint off. Time slows around her as the Titan jumps into the air. Sol swirls around their form as a hammer of fire takes shape in their hands. A clear clank sounds in the air and the enemy team stops where they're at. With a loud cry, the Titan throws a hammer. It hits the mark in a Warlock leading the charge.

He goes up in a flurry of ashes with a yell and his teammates stop and try to turn around but with another couple of hammers thrown, they're down for the count too.

To say Eden's impressed is an understatement. She stands staring at the Titan until they turn back to look at her.

"You're lucky you're wearing a helmet or you'd catch flies," The Titan jokes as they walk back over to her. Eden shakes her head a bit before gushing out, "What was that?"

The Titan chuckles. "That, newbie, was the Hammer of Sol, the Sunbreaker subclass."

And before the Titan can say any more, Shaxx calls the match and they've won. Uriah bumps against her helmet in excitement as Eden grins. That's the third one she's won in a row. Of course, there were a few losses in the beginning (a lot actually but who's counting?) but it was worth it for the wins.

The other team is good natured about the loss and congratulates Eden and her team. She notices though that some are wary of the Sunbreaker Titan and avoid them all together. Eden shrugs and goes on her way. She's already won three matches and sated her need to fight.

"That's wasn't so bad. I expected worse," Uriah beeps and twirls at her shoulder.

"Oh? Didn't you believe in me Uriah?" She teases him.

The little white and silver Ghost pauses, gaping and muttering a single word here or there. Eden laughs at him before petting his shell.

"I'm just joking. Come on, let's go see if to others have any missions or bounties for us to do." She stops for a moment before excitedly turning back to Uriah.

"Or maybe Axel could teach us how to use Hammer of Sol! Let's go!" She exclaims happily, marching toward her ship.

Uriah shakes his shell but follows after her none the less. Besides, Eden knows that he's just as curious as she is, even if the little Ghost doesn't want to show it.

As soon as they board their ship, they take off.

The map Shaxx had placed them on had been in the Eastern Dead Zone of Earth. Eden decides that now is a good time to rest as any. It's be a couple hours before they reached the Tower anyway.

As she takes off her helmet, Uriah beeps and looks at her.

"Remember that Titan we fought with in the Crucible? Well they just pinged us."

Eden watches on in amazement as Uriah displays the message on the little datapad she keeps in the ship.

_Hey Newbie, you weren't too shabby in the Crucible. If ya ever wanna go in again, message me and I'll join up. Maybe I'll even show you how to use_ _Sunbreaker_ _._  
_-_ _Tayten_ _-6_

Eden's mouth drops open and she stares at Uriah in shock. Then slowly, she smiles.

"We'll have to take her up on that sometime," Eden says, leaning back in her seat. All Uriah does is beep and settle on her shoulders.

Together, they both doze off as the ship heads back towards the Tower.


	8. Something Long Forgotten

ping to her Ghost wakes them both up.

"It's Lance. He needs us to meet them at the Cosmodrone in Earth. He says they've found Rasputin." A pause and then, "But I thought he was just a myth."

Her Ghost turns to look at her in shock and surprise.

Eden yawns and glances at him with a clueless stare.

"Oh, right," He says upon seeing her confused expression.

"Rasputin is an A.I Warmind from the Golden Age. Recently, he's resurfaced again and the Vanguard are trying to get him to ally with the City."

Eden stretches and nods. "Alright set the way point and we'll head their way."

The little Ghost twists and turns as he inputs the directions into the director in her ship. Once he's through, she pushes the lever forward and heads toward the way point.

"So why are the Vanguard trying so hard to get him on their side?" Eden asks as they zip through the air.

"His defenses could protect the City from any oncoming attacks and keep it safe," Uriah answers thoughtfully.

Eden nods but doesn't respond. The pair stay in silence until they're a couple of minutes away from the destination and then Eden sets the ship to auto pilot and stands.

"Make sure that we have extra ammo. If we have any leftover special or heavy ammo synths left, transmit it with us," Eden says, moving around the ship, gathering up the things they need.

"Hm, when you give orders like that, it almost makes me wonder what you were in your first life," Uriah speaks, moving to do as she says. As Eden checks the clips in her auto rifle and shotgun, she gives a thoughtful look and answers him.

"You know, I'm not really sure. The only way I know I was actually dead before is that sometimes I have nightmares when I sleep. I don't really remember them but sometimes I wake up and everything hurts, like I've been shot or something." She frowns, finally looking up at him.

Uriah beeps and blinks at her before settling on the curve of her neck.

"Well, don't worry too much about it. The more time that passes, the less they'll appear. Until then, you have me and the others," He mumbles, looking up from his place on her shoulder.

She smiles at him and pats his shell. "I know Uriah, no need to worry. You guys will always be there to have my back." With that, they both fall silent and wait for the approach of Earth.

When they land, Eden shoves on her helmet, grabs her guns, and jumps out.

It's silent across the snowy plain. Eerily so. Normally, there'd be Fallen fighting or Hive casting some dark spells, but it's empty. Eden gives Uriah a worried glance before hopping on her sparrow and following Lance's coordinates.

When she finally arrives, it's an old rusted building near Skywatch. Nothing new or extraordinary.

"Is this the place?" Eden comments, skeptical.

"Not quite, they're all a little farther than that. We just need...."

All his words fade out as Eden picks up on the sound of a haunting voice. It doesn't sound like anything she's ever heard. It calls to her, entices her. She's not sure how but she can understand what it's saying.

 _"Come. Array."_ It repeats over and over.

Almost like she's in a trance, Eden begins to sprint off without Uriah even noticing that she's gone. All she can hear is the voice calling to her.

Eden follows it through Skywatch, demolishing any Fallen that get in her way. When she arrives to Lance and the others, it's like she doesn't even see them anymore. All she can see is the Hive blocking her way to the ramp and the rusted building that overlooks the rest of the Cosmodrone. But she's doesn't focus on the view. The shadowy figure by the railing captures her attention.

She takes a couple of steps forward until a Hive Wizard, two Hive Knights, and half a dozen thrall stand in her way. Their glowing green eyes glare with sadistic pleasure and their teeth gnash at her. Their skeleton like faces peer into her very soul as they begin to come to her. Faintly, she remembers something about the Hive that Lance told her. Something along the lines of being careful with them? Dark magic? She can't really think too much on it because the voice calls for her again.

Impatience rears up and she calls upon all the Light she can before running and jumping in the air. As she soars down from the sky, lightening entangles her entire being and she lands in the middle of the horde with a thunderous crash.

The Hive screech and scream out but Eden is already up and walking away. She's on the ramp by the time their bodies are consumed by Arc and nothing but hard shells and bone remain. Lance and the others call for her, but it's as if she isn't allowed to focus on them, only the figure she's walking to. Slowly, she wanders to them, dazed. One shadowy hand reaches out for her and she raises one glove-covered hand in turn.

_"_ _Come, Eden."_

The voice sounds so familiar. She's heard it before, she knows that she's heard it before. It's of something long forgotten that she's just now remembering.

As she reaches for the hand, it's on the tip of her tongue. Just as her fingertips brush its, and the answer comes to her, someone's yanking her away.

Instantly, the figure is gone and Eden blinks her eyes and looks around. It feels like she's been drenched in cold water. Everything is disorienting. The helmet on her head feels too suffocating. She has to pull it off. It's thrown somewhere behind her as she breathes the cool icy air. The painful, prickly feeling in her throat brings her back slowly.

"Eden?" Someone asks beside her, lowering a hand on her shoulder.

She turns to see Lance's gentle green staring at her in concern. He searches her face and looks her over. She knows that he's looking for any kind of answer to what just happened. Eden doesn't have one though. In fact, she'd just like to finish this mission and go.

"I'm gonna...I'm gonna go check out the Array. See if there's anything useful about Rasputin." With that, she's gone and Uriah follows after in uncertainty.

She has a feeling that they'll ask what happened sooner or later. Right now though, she doesn't even know.

Eden stops just short of the series of monitors and allows Uriah to scan them. His eye keeps glancing towards her before looking down quickly when she catches him. She knows he wants an explanation too, but like the others, it'll have to wait.

Once he's done, Uriah hovers in her palm and awaits her orders.

"Done?" She inquires.

"Done," He affirms.

That's all she needs for him to transmit her back to the ship.

By the time Lance, Axel, and Jaren walk to theirs, she's already a streak in the sky, heading back to the Tower.


	9. Gun Cleaning and Personal Talks

In the days that follow, Eden avoids her fireteam and takes small bounties and missions to get out of the Tower. Nothing too dangerous but just enough to take her mind off the events that happened.

The bounty she'd taken recently had her to a Hive-ridden part of the Cosmodrone. A wizard experimenting on things she shouldn't and what not. It wasn't hard, except for the times she'd accidentally driven her sparrow into holes she hadn't seen. Besides that, it went fairly quickly. It allowed her a couple of days to herself.

As the ship sails back to Tower, Uriah floats beside her shoulder and glances at her for nearly the hundredth time.

"I'm fine Uriah," Eden sighs, sitting back and letting autopilot take over. The little silver and white Ghost twists his shell and comes to hover in front of her.

"I know, I know. I just....I feel what you feel. It's like you're avoiding the others. Ever since it happened, you've just shut yourself off. It's not like you. Just.." he pauses before looking at her. "Just please, at least talk to them, I'm sure they'll understand."

Eden's eyes soften at the words and she reaches up and grabs him gently. Her thumbs brush over his shell gingerly.

"Alright. I'll talk to them."

He snuggles into her gloved palms further and blinks up at her.

"Thank you," He mutters.

She gives him a smile and pats at his shell before releasing him and piloting her ship into the Tower hanger correctly. Once the ship has settled and the bounty reward is collected, Eden begins the walk back to the apartment she shares with the others.

On the way there, a nervous pit swirls in her stomach. She hasn't exactly been the best teammate lately and she's avoided all of them completely. Sensing her discomfort and anxiety, Uriah bumps against her shoulder and gives her a hopeful glance. It brings a smile to her face and the feelings edge away, little by little, and manage to give her that extra push to walk in the apartment.

It's quiet as she walks down the hall into the open living room. Empty, but Eden knows better. Gun parts are spread out across the table that sits in front of the couch. Uriah floats closer to the table to inspect them when a voice startles him, and Eden.

"So, you're back."

Eden turns and sees Jaren leaning against the doorway into the kitchenette, his Ghost hovering over his shoulder. He's wearing a long, navy tunic and black pants, unusual of his normal armor and cloak.

His glowing turquoise eyes peer at her curiously as Eden shuffles before moving to sit in a chair next to the couch. She sets her auto rifle on the table among the gun parts and puts her helmet in the floor next to her.

"I know we don't know each other well, but I'd really like to talk about what happened," She mumbles, looking at the ground. Uriah settles himself in her hands and gives her an encouraging look. Eden holds in a breath as she listens to Jaren walk to the couch and sit.

Lux blinks at her, white optic eye full of distrust, before setting down on the table, next to the gun parts.

Jaren begins picking up pieces and cleaning them with a cloth or oiling them as needed. Eventually, without looking up, he says, "Come here and I'll show you how to clean your gun."

With confusion written all over her face, she gets up and takes a seat next to him and watches as he shows her how to dismantle the gun and clean it. After a while, they fall into a silent routine of cleaning their guns. It calms Eden considerably and makes it easier to think things through.

"Now, tell me what happened."

His voice in the stillness startles her but she recovers and begins to speak.

"When we landed, I was fine. I was actually coming to help you. But then....I heard this voice calling to me. It kept saying that I needed to come to the array." She pauses to wipe at a particularly stubborn stain before continuing.

"It was like I had no control over my body. If I try to tell you what I did from the moment I heard the voice till the time I actually arrived at the array, I couldn't. I don't really remember what I did. All I mainly remember is seeing a black figure at the edge of the railing. And it felt as if I needed to touch it to understand," She whispers. Her hands stop what they're doing and go limp, barely clutching on to the cloth.

"Understand what?" Jaren asks, looking up at her.

Eden shakes her head and closes her eyes.

"I don't know. Before I could find the answer, Lance knocked me out of it."

She sits up and looks at him.

"Please tell me you saw it too. Please tell me I wasn't the only one."

Her tone is pleading. She wants to believe that she wasn't the only one either.

She knows that Uriah feels what she feels and she can feel sadness and sympathy radiate from him. He settles on her shoulder, cuddling her shoulder comfortingly. Eden rests a hand on Uriah's shell and watches the Awoken male on the couch.

His fingers swiftly and deftly work on the gun as he answers, "Eden, nothing was there with you when we followed you."

Her mouth opens and closes before she finally decides to snap it shut. The first thing that comes to mind is she's crazy. She must be. They must have thought she was insane too. They must have!

Her frenzied thoughts are interrupted by Jaren speaking again.

"But, just because I didn't see it, doesn't mean it wasn't there."

He looks up at her, a soft, knowing look on his face.

"Whatever it was, we're here for you. As a fireteam, we're all here for you. Even Axel, though he may not say or act it."

Warmth swells in her chest as she gives him a small smile.

"Thank you, Jaren."

Although it's barely noticeable, he nods his head and returns her smile with his own. Jaren resumes his work on the guns and Eden decides to take a shower and relax.

As she walks down the hall, farther and farther away from Jaren, Uriah speaks up.

"Feel better?"

She reaches a hand out and ruffles his shell.

"Very much so. For the next few days, we'll take a break and relax," She says, smiling.

Uriah looks up with her with his one blue optic.

"Promise?"

"Promise."

 


	10. Picking Right

Eden clenches her teeth and regrets her decision to ever come on this mission.

Going to find a warp drive and kill a Kell had been made to sound easy. But here she is, scorch marks on her left arm from the bullets slicing past her and forced behind a wall for cover. Eden's already missing the free days she and Uriah had. But this had to be done, at least according to her fireteam.

From her left, she hears Lance throw a ball of Void and watches as it drains the life from the Fallen around it. To her right, Axel fires round after round of shotgun blasts into the Fallen that wander too close. And from behind her, Jaren is sniping the Kell but it only serves to anger him further.

The Kell stops shooting at them to stand still and give a fierce roar.

The sound is deafening and makes it hard to hear what the others are saying. After he's done, he stomps the ground, shaking the entire building and throwing Eden and the others off balance.

Waves and waves of Fallen begin to drop from the roof and run toward the fireteam of four.

Curses fall from Axel's mouth and he replaces his shotgun in favor of the machine gun strapped to his back. From behind her,  Jaren activates his Golden Gun. Three fiery shots of sol burn past her and take down three of the Fallen edging closer to her and Lance.

Eden herself fires a few bullets into the crowd of Fallen but only two find their target. As she's working to keep the Fallen back, the same voice she'd heard last time she was here floats through the air. She freezes and looks up.

There, behind the Kell, stands the shadowy figure.

It points at her and then at the huge Fallen in front of it.

Whispers start up and Eden so wants to ignore it. She wants to pretend that it's not there or that's it's just a figment of her imagination. The conversation with Jaren returns to her mind though and she remembers the very words that he told her.

"Just because no one else sees it, doesn't mean it's not there," She breathes out.

Eden clears her head and forces her initial instinct to ignore away and listens.

The whispers turn into words that she understands as it lays out a plan for her. Eden listens intently and once it's finished, the whispers stop and the shadow disappears.

Eden looks towards her fireteam.

They're all too preoccupied keeping the Fallen at bay to notice what she's about to do. She looks at Uriah and without one word passing between them, he knows. He gives her a single nod and disappears within the confines of her armor, waiting.

She turns her attention back to the Kell. Just behind him is a perfect ledge to get an angle on him.

Before any second thoughts can enter to discourage her, she leaves her spot to throw a grenade at the group of Fallen approaching and turns to Jaren.

"Sniper! Give me your sniper!" She yells out.

He turns to her and seems to battle with something inside him before Axel turns to him.

"Jaren, give her the gun!" The Exo snaps, punching a Vandal that had come to close to him.

With only slight hesitance, Jaren throws the gun to Eden and watches as she catches it and slings it on her back.

The female Titan drops her own auto rifle and turns, launching herself at the Kell, arc crackling around her body. Eden slams the ground near his feet, her Light burning at him.

The Kell stops, shrieking in pain. The giant Fallen leader stops his attack momentarily to limply stand still.

Eden takes the time to jump up onto the ledge behind him, using the occasional boost to help her up. Once she's situated, she takes the sniper off her back and aims down the sights. In the few seconds that she has, Eden lines up her shot and waits.

The Kell recovers fairly quickly and roars in fury and pain, turning to Eden. When he does, Eden gives a satisfied huff as she pulls the trigger.

A resounding bang echos throughout the room as the bullet shoots out and slides right through the Kell's head, releasing a spray of ether. The huge gun in his hands drops to the ground as his body lands on the floor with a heavy thud. All the Captains, Vandals, Dregs, and Shanks that had come at his call, stop to look at their dead leader. A few turn to Eden, giving out harsh curses in their tongue. All she does is holster the sniper on her back before dropping to the ground with a thundering crack. With that, each Fallen begins to retreat back to their cubby hole of darkness, leaving the fireteam of four by themselves.

Uriah leaves Eden's armor to look at her in pride. The others only look at her in shock and awe.

"Well, that was certainly impressive," Lance says, walking up to inspect the dead Kell.

Eden takes off her helmet, golden eyes lingering on the spot where the shadow once stood before stepping up beside Lance. Uriah floats just beside her.

"Alive for only a short time and you've already managed to kill a Fallen Kell." His voice swells with joy and delight.

A hand claps her on the shoulder and she turns to look up at Axel.

His helmet is tucked under one arm and he looks fairly impressed with her. Well, as impressed as an Exo can look.

"Ya done good kid," He grunts out.

Her nose scrunches up and the glare she gives him has no real heat behind it.

"Kid? I'm not a kid," Eden protests.

Axel gives a chuckle but says nothing else. He only winks at her before moving to look at the Kell with Lance. Eden sticks her tongue out at his back before turning and approaching Jaren.

The Hunter is cleaning off his knife and reloading his hand cannon when she steps up. His glowing turquoise eyes raise up to glance at her with something akin to a pleased look. Eden takes the sniper off her back and hands it back over to him.

"Nice sights. Good recoil. Powerful. Not a bad sniper. What is it?" She questions, curious.

"Luna Avernum II," He replies taking it from her grasp.

Eden only smiles at him before going to retrieve her own gun from the pillar she'd left it. Once safely on her back, Eden turns back to her fireteam.

In Lance's hand is the warp drive that they'd originally come looking for, along with the Kell.

"Well, I suppose it's only fitting that we should go see the Speaker now. I'm curious about what he has to say," Lance speaks, pocketing the warp drive and glancing at Jaren and Axel.

"Good idea, besides, didn't you say that Eden needed to go meet the Speaker?" Clovis questions, coming out from Lance's shoulder to glance at Eden and Uriah curiously.

"Yes, I do believe I did," Lance speaks, turning to look at the duo.

"No need to waste time. Let's go." Eden smiles, rushing to leave.

"You're certainly eager, aren't you?" Uriah observes, looking at her.

"Well," She starts, biting her lip, "if the things I heard about him are true, he could help me. He could explain why I saw what I saw."

The little Ghost contemplates her words. "Whatever you choose to do, I'm right there with you."

Eden smiles at the Ghost before they both transmit up to the ship, the rest of the fireteam following after them.

The ride back is silent but Eden's mind is racing a million miles a minute. When they finally settle down, Eden's already out of the ship and zooming out of the shipwright.

By now, all the halls and rooms are memorized by Eden and it takes her no time to find the part of the tower that the Speaker resides in.

"Slow down, will ya?" Axel's voice huffs from behind her.

"Yes, it would certainly be nice if you would walk a little bit," Lance inputs, coming up to her side.

She sheepishly grins. "Sorry, guess I got a little too excited. So, are you coming with me?" She inquires, turning to look at the trio.

When Eden turns back to Lance, Clovis is already looking at her.

"I'm sorry Eden, but Ikora needs the rest of us to report about the mission. We'll come back when it's done," The little red Ghost speaks, apologetically.

"No it's fine, really. Just go do what you need to and I'll meet up with you guys."

Eden gives them one last smile before walking down the walkway leading into where the Speaker resided.

In front of her is a projection of the Traveler itself. Every detail is the same as the real one, even down to the cracks on the bottom of it.

Eden steps up closer to it, eyes filling with wonder.

"There was a time when we were much more powerful. But that was long ago. Until it wakes and finds its voice, I am the one who speaks for The Traveler," A voice speaks, startling Eden.

She turns her head to the side to see a white clothed figure descending down the steps, watching her. His masked face gives away no expression as he comes up beside her. Eden glances at Uriah but he's watching the figure with the utmost respect. Soon, she realizes that this is the Speaker.

"You must have no end of questions, Guardian," The Speaker states before looking toward the projection.

"In its dying breath, The Traveler created the Ghosts to seek out those who can wield its Light as a weapon-Guardians-to protect us and do what the Traveler itself no longer can."

Eden stares at the projection and then tilts her head up to look at the real Traveler, curiosity filling her. It at least explains why she's here, using the Light to protect people. But that doesn't answer all of her questions.

"I could tell you of the great battle centuries ago, how the Traveler was crippled. I could tell you of the power of The Darkness, its ancient enemy. There are many tales told throughout the City to frighten children. Lately, those tales have stopped. Now... the children are frightened anyway. The Darkness is coming back. We will not survive it this time." The Speaker's tone is ominous and it feels Eden with dread.

Uriah speaks up this time.

"Its armies surround us. Those Fallen we fought? They were just the beginning." He looks at her, optic scrunched in worry.

"How? How do we stop it?" Eden inquires, voice quiet.

"You must push back the Darkness. Guardians are fighting on Earth and beyond. Join them. Your Ghost will guide you." He pauses for a moment before he utters one more thing.

"I only hope he chose wisely."

Eden almost feels offended at what he says. Why wouldn't Uriah pick her? Why wouldn't he choose her?

Eden tries to shake it off. She has questions that still needed to be answered and he was the only one who could give them.

"Speaker? Is it...is it normal for a Guardian to have memories of their life before?" She calls out as he's going back up the stairs.

He stops to look at her. "For some, yes. For others, the past should stay buried."

With that, he walks back up without another word.

Eden turns to look at her Ghost with a helpless look of confusion and frustration.

"That didn't help me at all. Not in the slightest and to imply that I'm not right for the job," She grumbles, throwing her hands up and walking away.

"Well, maybe right now it doesn't make sense but in time it will. Besides, I know I picked right, despite what the Speaker thinks," Uriah soothes, looking at her with pride.

A smile breaks across her face and Eden squeezes his shell to her cheek.

"You're the best Ghost ever, you know that?"

All she gets in return is a content hum.

 


	11. The Vanguard's Chosen

Not long after she returns to the apartment, a frown forms on her lips and the Speaker's words ring in her ears again.

She knows it's stupid that the words still effecting her, but they are. They shouldn't be though. Uriah said he picked right and she trusts his word but that doesn't stop the doubts.

To make matters even worse, as soon as Lance and the others step into the apartment, they begin to explain that they have to go. Some Vanguard appointed mission that she can't even go on. Something about it being too "dangerous" and her being too "new" of a Guardian.

Eden grumbles, but doesn't say anything. The annoyance once again becoming fresh in her mind.

She watches with something akin to frustration as Uriah comes to hover beside her.

"You know that they're only doing this for your safety, right?" Uriah says, quietly enough for only her to hear.

Eden cuts a glance at him before sighing.

"Of course. It doesn't mean I have to like it though," She answers.

Her fingers tap out a pattern on her armored leg as she begins to think.

If she couldn't help her own fireteam, maybe she could help another one. Maybe, just maybe, Ava and Quinn could use some help. They'd probably let her tag along, as long as she didn't mess with Quinn's things.

Eden waits until the others have packed up and left, saying goodbye at the door before closing it.

"Send Ava a ping. See if they need help with anything."

Uriah gives her an exasperated look before doing as she says.

The response is instantaneous.

Uriah's blue optic widens and his shell whirls before turning to her.

"She said yes, very very excitedly. I guess we do have something to do after all."

Eden grins and gets up, speed walking to the door. Her excitement shows as she gets a bounce in her step and a smile graces her features.

"I've never done a mission with them before. It's kind of exciting actually," Eden chirps, glancing at Uriah.

The little Ghost twirls his shell in amusement but listens to her ramble on none the less. He only interrupts her to tell her where to go, which is the shipwright. When Eden arrives, she sees Ava waving at her from a sleek blue ship.

Eden hurries over and is greeted with a hug from the female Hunter.

"It's good to see you again Eden!"

The female Hunter practically tackles her, nearly knocking Eden to the floor. Eden only chuckles, patting her back affectionately.

"It's good to see you too Ava. Uriah told me you seemed excited to see us."

Her sapphire eyes brighten up even more and she bounces on the balls of her feet.

"Yes, yes! Quinn wanted me to go to the Moon so he could examine some type of Hive Knight.  Now that you're here, I won't be so bored!" She exclaims happily.

Just as she finishes speaking, Quinn walks out of the ship and looks at Eden with slight disdain.

"Oh. It's you. Hm," Is all he says as he walks past her.

Eden wilts, turning to Ava with a dim expression.

"What's wrong Eden?" Ava asks, picking up on her down mood.

"It's just.....first the Speaker and now him. It almost really seems no one wants me around." Her voice gets quieter and she can feel the sympathy roll over her from Uriah.

Ava jumps forward, hugging her tightly.

"Oh Eden, it's not that. Quinn is just a gumpy butt and the Speaker? Well, he's just the Speaker. Whatever he says, don't pay too much attention to it. There was a reason the Traveler picked you."

Eden smiles just a little before hugging her back and letting go.

"Thanks Ava."

The Hunter smiles brightly before looking over Eden's shoulder.

"Come on, let's go. Quinn's coming and if we're not on the ship, he'll leave us."

Ava pulls Eden onto the ship with her and they both sit in the back, waiting for Quinn to board. Once he gets on and is settled in the pilot seat, they take off and soar into space.

Eden listens as Ava goes on and on and on about random things and sometimes, even jumps in and rambles excitedly herself. All the while, Eden can hear Quinn sighing and humming in annoyance but the soft looks occasionally directed at Ava aren't lost on her.

Eventually, they arrive at the familiar white, crater filled surface of the moon and they all transmit from the ship.

It's her first time landing on the moon and it's a new experience, one she's never had before she's sure.

Eden looks up at the void of space surrounding them.

She can see Earth, every spot of green made clearer by the blue that surrounds it. It spins slowly and leisurely, without a care in the world. Just behind it, she can see the sun. Although it still seems bright, she knows her helmet dims the rays from their natural brightness.

Other than that, there's nothing but inky blackness with a few distant stars smeared across it.

Eden knows there's other planets out there, Lance and Uriah have told her about them. Even so, all of it just feels....wrong. She doesn't like being cloaked in constant darkness. Something about it just feels off to her. It bothers her.

"Eden?" Uriah inquires from her side.

"It's nothing," She answers, still looking at the sky.

Her Ghost shrugs his shell before disappearing into her armor.

"Alright, the Knight we're looking for resides in the Hellmouth. This mission doesn't require that we kill anything. Do you understand that, Titan?"

Eden whips around to face Quinn.

His helmet gives away nothing and for a moment, she doesn't know what to say. The only thing that comes to her mind are remarks that Uriah tells her that she shouldn't say. Instead, she settles on a stiff nod and watches as the Warlock gets on a sparrow and rides off.

Ava puts a comforting hand on her shoulder before walking a little ways away and summoning up her own sparrow, waiting.

Eden sighs and follows her lead and together the two race across the expanse of the moon. Halfway through, Ava begins to do tricks and flip, making Eden laugh and follow her lead.

By the time they arrive to a waiting Quinn, both Hunter and Titan are breathless with laughter and even their Ghosts are chuckling.

They both hop off their sparrows and walk toward Quinn. The closer they get, the more that Eden can feel the annoyance roll off of the tall Warlock. Her good mood instantly begins to wilt off and as she comes to stand beside Quinn, he murmurs under his breath while she spies a cream colored Ghost shaking its shell.

Eden faces forward, silently wishing they could hurry and get this done.

Uriah reminds her that all they have to do is sit by and watch while Quinn takes his notes and that she even has Ava to keep her company. Eden sighs but doesn't disagree.

Quinn walks off and she follows after him, along with Ava.

He leads them up into high, crater-filled cliffs, just above where the Knight and a few acolytes stand, and instructs them to sit and lie low. Both do as he says and after a couple of minutes in silence, Ava strikes up a conversation with Eden. And although Eden can tell he disapproves, Quinn says nothing.

Ava's Ghost even comes out. It's shell is a soft rose color and it seems just about as happy as Ava is. Ava tells her she named it Val and the Ghost perks up in pride, shell spinning.

Uriah comes out of Eden's armor to inspect the Ghost and speak to it. They begin talking and before their Guardians know it, they're chatting like old friends. Eden smiles at her Ghost and gives an amused chuckle.

"So," Ava begins, drawing Eden's attention, "why aren't you with your fireteam?"

Eden groans and leans back on a rock, nearly hitting the Warlock standing next to her.

He turns his attention to her and she shrugs apologetically before speaking to Ava.

"They went on a Vanguard appointed mission. They said it was too dangerous for me."

Ava looks at her, attentive.

"You mean they haven't told you yet?"

Eden straightens up and begins to speak but Uriah beats her to it, having stopped his conversation upon hearing their's.

"What do you mean they haven't told us? What were they supposed to tell us?" He queries, coming to float in front of the female Hunter.

She looks conflicted for a moment before speaking.

"They're the Vanguard's Chosen. Whatever the Vanguard can't do themselves, they send them to do it. Basically, anything really bad the Vanguard thinks is going to happen, they go to keep it from happening," Ava confesses.

Eden feels her mouth drop open and her eyes go wide.

"You mean to tell me we've been with them this whole time and we never knew it?!" Uriah exclaims in shock.

Ava only nods her head.

"I also imagine that that's why the Vanguard choose to put you with them. To keep an eye on you," Quinn speaks up from his place beside her.

Eden's confusion only grows as she looks upon her Ghost and the other two Guardians with her.

"What? What's going on?" Eden stands up, looking between the two with confusion.

Quinn's helmet tilts in her direction but he says nothing. Eden instead turns to Ava.

The Hunter only shrugs apologetically before answering, "That's really all I know."

Still at a loss, Eden turns to Uriah, only to find he isn't much help. He's muttering and mumbling as he flies back and forth in the air beside her.

"Okay. I still don't-" Eden starts.

"Well, I believe I've acquired what I was looking for. We can go now," Quinn announces, interrupting her before walking away. Ava pats Eden on the shoulder before following after Quinn.

Val gives her a quiet sorry and flies off too.

Honestly, Eden's still quite baffled and has no clue what to do. Finally, Eden taps at Uriah's shell, getting him to turn toward her.

"Are you gonna explain? Or are you just gonna leave me confused too?" She inquires as he looks upon her.

"I'll.....explain on the ship," He answers.

She nods and tells him to summon a sparrow. Uriah follows her instructions and soon enough, they're off and zooming across the moon.

She doesn't take the same way she came, instead choosing to follow a new route that Uriah automatically set for her upon she choosing a new way to go.

Both her and Uriah remain silent as they ride along the craggy surface, passing by old relics in the form of space stations long abandoned. And just as she almost makes her way back, Eden notices some Fallen retreating from a little path out of the way.

Curiosity gets the better of her and she stops the sparrow, going to inspect it.

The path takes her around a corner and brings her to a ledge up above her.

She jumps and climbs up the ledge before peering into the shadowy path.

"The ground below us has tunnels running for miles on end which means we're going into Hive territory. Eden, I don't think we should be here," Uriah mutters nervously. Eden ignores his warning and begins walking down the narrow path.

It goes on for a couple of minutes before it ends in a huge, hollowed out area. On the other end of the area is a huge door, covered in strange green symbols. It screams Hive and Eden almost turns back, until she sees a flash of red.

Any warning Uriah tries to tell her is lost in the wind as she grabs his shell and sprints down the hill and right up to the door, where the red is.

The closer she comes, the more dread pools in her stomach.

It's a Guardian. A male Titan at that. She kneels, hand reaching out to touch him.

When her finger tips graze his helmet, cold shock and despair rush through her and she pulls her hand back.

"There's nothing left. Not even his Light," Uriah stammers, floating closer to Eden.

"Can we..?" She begins, turning to him.

"No, there's nothing to revive and his Ghost is gone," Uriah answers, voice trembling.

Her heart drops and she goes to stand when she feels someone staring at her.

She turns and spies a figure on some cliffs, overlooking the carved out basin. The figure is some distance away but not far enough that Eden can't see the dark cloak and glowing eyes.

As she stares at the figure, she gets a strange feeling from them. It doesn't last long though because she hears a loud crack and her attention diverts to the door.

The symbols begin disappearing and Eden has a bad feeling something awful is about to happen.

She turns to look back to call out to the figure but they're gone, leaving her alone.

"Did you..?" Eden begins.

"Later! We have Hive incoming!" Uriah exclaims going back into her armor.

Eden whirls back around to see the last symbol disappear and the door opens, revealing a small army of thrall.

Their teeth gnash and their clawed hands flex as they all let out growls. Eden raises her gun just as they rush at her and all she can think is that this was a really bad idea.

 


	12. A Dead Ghost Goes Back to the Traveler

They just keep coming.

No matter how many Eden shoots down, there's always another thrall to take a dead one's place. And it's getting harder to fight them all off. But she keeps holding out, hoping the distress call Uriah sent out earlier has someone, anyone, coming.

She reloads her gun again, suddenly aware of how little ammo she has left. The ammo synths that Eden brought with her have dwindled down to only one. With a long sigh, she uses it and reloads her gun, watching a thrall run up on her. Eden rears her fist back and punches, completely crushing its face in and disintegrating its body into arc. She expects more to come but there are none. They're all dead.

Relief tingles in her chest as she lowers the gun slightly.

"They're gone. Finally," She mutters, shoulders sagging in exhaustion.

"Good! Now let's go!" Uriah whispers urgently.

"No, not yet. Not until we get his Ghost," Eden breathes, moving up to the door frame. She presses her back against the outside wall and peers into the dark room.

There is a platform with two sets of stairs leading up to another platform and one set of stairs leading down to a lower level. On the upper platform, a couple of acolytes and thrall mill around, bowing to an altar. In the very center of all of them floats a Wizard.

Dark, disgusting robes flap gently away from its distorted, thin body. The elaborate headgear upon its head is bowed down, nearly touching the alter as it hovers up and down. Lowly muttered hive language scrapes against Eden's ears like metal against metal.

"Alright, we have to get that Ghost back and I'm guessing if anyone has it, it's the Wizard," Eden whispers, pointing to the Hive creature.

She can feel the uncertainty, fear, and concern zipping through Uriah rapidly before he settles on trust.

"Okay, let's do this," He replies, bravery seeping into his voice.

Eden nods before peeking back around the door and launching an arc grenade right into the middle of the crowd of Hive. A few acolytes and thrall die immediately and the remaining turn toward her, angry and howling.

Eden lifts up her auto rifle and shoots well-placed shots towards the ones still alive. When they disintegrate into nothing, Eden rushes inside and sprints up the stairs.

She launches herself toward the Wizard and just as she reaches up to punch the Hive creature, it turns and wraps a claw around Eden's throat, squeezing tightly.

The darkness of the creature's magic burns everywhere it touches, causing Uriah to cry out her name. It brings Eden pain like nothing else she's ever felt before and she tries desperately to pry the bony hand away.

Three, glowing, green eyes bore into hers as it rasps out something in its language.

As Eden struggles, the Wizard laughs a horrible crackling cough before it drops her to the ground.

The female Titan takes in deep breaths, clutching at her neck.

"Eden! Are you alright?" Uriah exclaims in worry from inside her helmet. Before she can answer, the Wizard summons a cloud of cold, dark magic that chokes Eden. She can practically feel it leech the Light away from her.

The cloud slips past the air filters in her helmet and slides down her throat. It travels through her body, practically tearing her insides apart. All Eden can do is gasp and choke and sputter as Uriah wails in her ear, afraid and worried.

She becomes weaker and weaker until her body is laying flat on the ground and she's staring at the alter the Wizard was previously floating in front of.

The dead Guardian's Ghost lays upon the top of it, shell still and optic dark. As she looks upon it, she hears the Wizard crackle and rasp out something in a mixture of Hive language and Eden's language.

Guardian, dead, Ghost, and Light is all she hears but it's enough that her foggy mind can piece it together.

The Wizard is going to kill her, just like it did with the other Guardian. And then, it's going to take her Light and her Ghost.

No, she can't, she won't, let it take Uriah. She won't let it take her Ghost!

Anger rears up within her and the remaining Light in her body flares up, giving her strength.

Void encircles her form as she stands shakily and walks toward the witch. It screeches in fury at her and launches itself toward Eden.

Eden only stands her ground, watching with silted eyes.

Just when the Hive creature is in arm's length, Eden throws her arms out and a purple bubble forms around her.

Light floods the sphere and the wizard howls in pain at the sudden intrusion. It howls and screeches and hisses. She doesn't need to know the language to know that it's cursing her and wishing for her death right about now. It won't matter for long though

"You won't be killing any more Guardians," Eden growls out, pulling a shotgun from her back.

Eden levels the shotgun to the Wizard's head and pulls the trigger, ending its miserable life with one shot.

A horrible screech fills the air as it fades to away, leaving the headgear and a pile of dust behind.

Neither Guardian nor Ghost say anything as they approach the altar and Eden picks up the Ghost. She cups it in her hand, raising it up to look at it.

It's dead.

The shell is scratched up and cracked with the optic being shattered beyond repair. Even worse, there is no pull of Light from within it. She doesn't have enough Light to bring it back. She even has a feeling that if she were at full strength, she still couldn't bring it back. So Eden decides to do the only thing she can do.

With Uriah's help, she releases the Light within the Ghost and watches as the shell breaks apart and disappears into the air above them.

"Where will it go?" Eden inquires, voice quiet and full of despair.

"It will go back to the Traveler, where it belongs," He whispers, just as quiet.

Eden nods and then turns and leaves.

She walks back up the hill, back along the path, and back down the ledge she'd first come across. Just as she comes around the curve, Eden bumps into Ava.

The female Hunter exclaims in surprise before grabbing hold of Eden and looking her up and down, inspecting her.

"Where have you been?! I've been worried about you! Even Quinn was concerned! Especially when we heard the distress call!" She frets, turning Eden this way and that.

Eden says nothing, choosing to let her do it.

When Ava is satisfied, she brings out Val.

They exchange some words before Ava turns back to Eden.

"Come on, let's get you out of here," She sighs, leading the Titan away.

With no more words being spoken, Eden blocks out the noise around her.

Everything becomes a blur as Eden retreats to her mind. Uriah's voice speaks, soft and gentle, within her head. He reassured her that everything is fine now and that they're okay and they've made it. At one point, she finally decides to speak up.

"What about the Ghost and Guardian? What will become of them?" She asks.

From within the confines of her mind, Uriah answers her question.

_"The Guardian will be retrieved from the Moon and given a Titan's burial. As for the Ghost, as I said, it's Light will return to the Traveler. Eventually, it will form a new Ghost and find another Guardian, just like I found you."_

His words bring her a huge amount of comfort and Eden falls silent, content with the feelings of warmth and love Uriah is sending to her. It's only when she registers someone other than Uriah trying to talk to her that she retreats from her mind.

Lance, Jaren, and Axel are hovering around her, watching with worried eyes and concerned faces.

"Eden? Eden ya there?" She hears Axel question, his normally gruff tone soft.

She turns to look at him and then look around her.

She's in the back of Ava and Quinn's ship and it's landed in the Tower. Behind her fireteam, she can see the rush of Guardians entering and leaving the Tower. None of them seem to be paying her and the crowd around her any mind. Eden wishes she could become apart of that crowd but she knows that she can't. She has too many things to face right now and one very important thing to talk over with her fireteam.

As she stands up and takes her helmet off, Uriah appears and hovers beside her.

"Yeah, I'm good. I'm going to go check in with the Vanguard and then I think we need to have a talk because I am still very confused," She answers, turning her head to look at Uriah.

He nods his shell, agreeing with her.

Her fireteam looks at her in bewilderment but nods none the less. Eden decides to go ahead and go to the Vanguard to get it over with.

As her feet touch the first step leading up to the main plaza, she hears someone follow after her.

"You didn't have to follow me," She says to the person, continuing to walk up the steps.

"What happened kid?" Axel's mechanical voice questions.

Eden pauses a moment, looking at him.

"I accidentally went into Hive territory," She starts.

"Yeah, Ava told us where she found ya. Way too close to the Temple of Crota if ya ask me," He interrupts her for a moment.

Eden sees his Ghost float a little ways from his shoulder, nodding in agreement.

She sighs and looks forward again, walking up the steps again.

"I found a dead Guardian there, a Titan. There was nothing left of him, Axel. Nothing." She looks at him, golden eyes wide with despair again. Eden falls silent, trying to gather her muddled, upset thoughts. She waits till they're in an empty part of the hallway and leans against the wall, staring up at the ceiling.

Axel stops next to her, waiting patiently.

"There was a Wizard there. It was planning on killing Uriah and me much the same way it did the dead Guardian," She mumbles quietly.

Eden felt more than saw Axel's blue optics trail along her face.

"The wizard is dead now. And we released the Titan's Ghost back to the Traveler." Eden pauses to glance at Uriah, who is floating next to her and nuzzling into her crossed arms. Absentmindedly, she pets his shell.

"We may not have saved that Guardian, but at least the moon is one step closer to being rid of the Hive." The despair is gone from her eyes and face, replaced with determination.

Axel stays silent a moment before he comes to lean beside her.

His Ghost, Slate, comes around his shoulder to face her.

"You did the right thing. It was dangerous but you did it. You've come out of it stronger and more determined. I think you've learned a lesson not many guardians learn until much later," Slate states, wisely.

Eden gives him a tiny smile.

"Thanks." She turns to Axel. "Thank you too. For listening."

He nods before moving a hand to ruffle her hair.

"No problem kid. Now go on, we'll all meet ya back at the apartment. From there we'll explain everything to ya."

Eden nods and waves goodbye before setting off for the Vanguard.

She wonders how the news of what's she's done will go over. Probably not good.


	13. Face The Consequences Later

As she expected, the Vanguard were not happy.

After at least ten minutes of scolding, they commend her on a job well done. And it doesn't escape Eden's notice when Zavala eyes her with pride.

Before she leaves, she turns to look at him.

"Sir, he will be retrieved, won't he?"

Zavala straightens and stares at her with something akin to determination.

"He will."

Eden doesn't say anything else, just gives him a nod and leaves, heading back to the apartment.

When she arrives, her fireteam is sitting on the furniture placed around the room. They try to talk to her but she holds up a finger, silencing them.

"Shower first, talk after."

They nod and she goes back to her room. As she looks around the barren walls, Eden decides that she needs to go see the City and pick some things up, to make the room more her own.

"Uriah, armor please?" She asks and seconds later her armor is piled in one corner of her room. She then grabs a spare pair of clothes and heads for the shower.

Once she's all nice and clean, she slips on a chocolate brown sweater that's pleasantly big on her and a pair of comfy, black tights before making her way back into the living room.

"Alright, now you can explain," She says, settling on the couch, a little ways from Jaren.

Her little white and silver Ghost lowers himself in her cupped hands and looks attentive.

Once they realize she's ready to listen, they begin explaining.

They were picked to be the Vanguard's Chosen because of the skills they possessed and strength of their Light. That is why they deal with the major threats, like creatures of Darkness that become to strong or retrieving Guardians that have been missing for far too long. Anything that's too dangerous for other Guardians to do.

The more they explain, the more her confusion goes away and her excitement starts peeking through.

Finally, a grin stretches on her face and she sits forward, body practically vibrating with excitement.

Lance notices.

"What are you smiling about?"

Eden leans forward as they all look at her.

"You guys are so cool! Yeah I mean I was confused but what you guys do is awesome! I can only hope to amount to you guys one day!" She chatters excitedly.

Axel guffaws and Lance laughs while Jaren smiles.

"Well kid, you're on you're way. You already killed a Fallen Kell and a major Hive Wizard," Axel says, when he's done.

"Yes, I believe you are destined for great things but..." Lance trails off, face scrunched in worry.

Jaren side eyes her with an expression she can't identify and seriousness washes over the room.

"There are consequences to what we do. There is always a consequence. For us, it's bearing a burden that nobody else carries," He mutters quietly.

Eden's brow furrows and her body tenses. She doesn't know what to say to that but if she wants to be like them, she'll just have to face the consequences later, when they do come. But for now, she nods and replies,"Of course."

Then, it becomes lighthearted again and they all go back to talking. At least, the others do. Eden stretches her limbs out before standing.

"Well," Eden starts,"I think that I'm gonna spend the rest of my free time down in the City. Explore it. Sight-see. Buy a few things."

As she walks to her room to grab a pair of ankle boots(so kindly given to her by Ava), Lance speaks up.

"If you get lost, ping Clovis and we'll be there as quickly as we can."

Eden sits to slip her shoes on giggling at herself.

"I'll be sure to do that, mom."

She walks around the corner just in time to see Lance look at her with a slightly offended look. Laughter bursts out of her mouth and she has to cover it to muffle the sound some. Even the others look amused at her antics.

"Sorry, it was just too funny," She apologizes as her laughter turns into chuckling.

The look eventually fades away and he sighs, exasperated. "Have fun Eden."

Eden grins before waving bye and leaving the apartment with Uriah in tow.

She enters the plaza and heads towards the set of doors that lead to the elevator that originally brought her up to the Tower. When she arrives, the same man from the first time greets her.

Dark brown eyes inspect her.

"Hi, I don't know if you remember-" She begins.

"I do," He interrupts her.

Eden tilts her head curiously.

"Alright, well, could you take me down to the City?"

He gestures for her to enter the elevator. When she does, he flips a lever and the elevator shoots down.

"So, what's your name?" She questions over the silence that had befallen around them.

He takes a side glance at her and then looks forward again.

"Carter. Carter Beckett," He states.

He remains silent after that, even when she tries to prompt him to speak again.

The elevator comes to a sudden halt and the doors slid open, revealing a bustling street of people.

Eden glances at the man, Carter, thoughtfully for a moment before leisurely walking out of the elevator.

"Thank you," She tosses over her shoulder as she disappears into the crowd of people.

As she intermingles with the rush, Eden looks all around her and takes in the sights.

The City isn't an extravagant place but it's still amazing in its own way.

Every street she turns on is full of color and lights string from building to building. Children play up and down the street, laughing and giggling. She even sees a few Hunters milling around what looks like a cloth shop.

As Eden watches it all with wide eyed wonder, a pair of children catches her eyes.

One is an Awoken girl and the other a human boy.

They're both playing and running around each other. The boy squeals and laughs as the girl touches him and begins to run from him. He proceeds to chase her this time.

Eden watches with a smile and then slowly, she doesn't see the boy and girl anymore. She's looking at what she thinks is a hazy, younger version of herself and a little girl who looks exactly like her.

She's chasing the girl, laughing and smiling. The girl is giggling as Eden reaches out to grab her. She gives a shriek of laughter as little Eden begins to tickle her any and everywhere. This continues for a couple of minutes until Eden quits to hug her. The girl hugs her back with a smile. Each child opens their mouth but no words come out. A faint pain begins to trickle behind her eyes and she releases a hiss.

Then, she's snapped out of it as Uriah calls her name.

She glances up at him quickly and then turns back but the younger version of her and the girl are gone. Only the children before are left, playing as they have been.

"Eden, are you okay?" Uriah asks with concern.

"I think....I think I saw a memory. Kinda blurry but it was of a younger me and a....sister?" Eden hesitates, her body slumping over.

The pain comes back, more forceful this time. It pounds at her head, almost as if it's punishing her for trying to remember something from her fragmented memories.

Eden clenches her teeth and rubs her temples.

Her Ghost looks at her with worry before snuggling into her neck.

"It's okay. Don't force it to come back. It'll come back in time or it won't. Who knows? But whatever happens, we're in it together," Uriah soothes.

Eden glances at him and smiles. She releases her head to pat at his shell.

"Alright. Let's go check out the rest go the City. Maybe we'll even find some stuff for my room."

Then she and her Ghost get lost in the crowd once more.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey there, sorry if the story is going so slow. I'm trying to take my time and explain everything individually so by the time the story ends it all pieces together. Thanks for all the reads!! Until next time :)


	14. Sunbreakers, The Mercenaries

Weeks pass by and Eden finally settles into a routine.

She goes on missions on Earth and the Moon (with the supervision of her fireteam), helps Quinn and Ava, and trains whenever she can fit it in her schedule. It busies her time and for the first time ever, she actually feels as if she's contributing to the protection of the City. But as nice as it is, her breaks and days off have been limited to just half days or mere hours.

Eden finds it to be a blessing when she wakes up one morning with no messages from her fireteam or pings from Ava. Even better, she's trained the day before, leaving this day open to whatever she wants to do.

Eden decides that the crucible sounds good. It's been awhile since she's been able to go in and now seems as good a time as any. As Eden's clasping on her mismatched pieces of armor, she calls for Uriah.

The little Ghost floats from his place on her bed, beeps, and looks at her curiously.

"Yes?"

"Send a message to Tayton and see if she'd be free to join us in crucible."

Uriah nods his shell and does as she says.

It takes awhile for Tayton to respond and by the time she does, Eden's already been to see Shaxx and is on her way to the shipwright.

"Eden?" Uriah beeps.

The female Titan only hums.

"She says she'll join us in orbit."

Eden smiles and rushes to her ship. Once inside, she flips switches and pushes the lever forward and then she's zooming into space.

As the ship hovers just outside of Earth's atmosphere, Eden tells Uriah to send a ping to the Titan. Within moments, there's a bright purple ship hovering next to them.

"Uriah is there any way to connect to a comms system where we can talk?" Eden asks, sitting back in the seat and looking at the Ghost.

He beeps and mutters for a few moments before turning back to Eden, looking quite pleased.

"There. All she has to do is enter it and we'll be in business."

Eden laughs and gives the little Ghost a loving pat.

"Thanks Uriah, you're the best."

Uriah looks at her with a swell of pride in his eye before he nestles into her neck.

"Well, if I'm the best Ghost then you're the best Guardian," He coos, snuggling into her neck.

Eden smiles brightly and opens her mouth to speak before Tayton's voice fill the cockpit.

"As sweet as that sounded, I don't think you called me out here for that." Amusement tinges her voice.

A blush spreads across her cheeks and Eden clears her throat. Uriah ducks his shell and busies himself with looking out a window.

"Um no. I thought you'd like to do some crucible with us," Eden rushes, embarrassment in her tone.

Tayton chuckles. "Sure newbie, kick it off so we can crack some heads."

Eden sets everything up and soon enough, they're soaring through the sky with ten other ships, heading to a map on Earth.

When everyone sets down, Shaxx announces the match as a Clash and basically tells them to go at it. Eden's more than happy to do so as she and Tayton surge forward. At first, Eden gets mowed down. She dies several times but it doesn't discourage her from trying again and again. By the time the first match has ended, Eden has died at least ten times with only three kills of her own. She didn't even get to kick off her super.

On the way to the second match, Eden pumps herself up.

"It just takes time to become good at something," She mutters to herself as they drop down on a map on the moon this time.

From somewhere within her armor, Eden feels Uriah radiate support and approval. It helps to further increase her determination.

This time around, she and Tayton stick to each other like glue, allowing their Light to feed off each other. Slowly, Eden stops dying so much and starts racking in the kills. By the end of the second match, she managed to kick off her super twice, only die four times, and had gotten at least twelve kills. She feels proud that she's gotten at least the smallest bit better.

By the third match, Eden and Tayton become an unstoppable pair. They watch each others backs, take zones, and keep the enemy from the heavy ammo. By the time the match ends, Eden and Tayton are on the top of the score board with the most kills.

Their teammates cheer and thank them for the win and congratulate them on the kills.

As they head back up to orbit, Eden and Tayton decide they've done enough crucible for the day and leave the matchmaking.

Both Titans sit in silence for a moment before Eden speaks up.

"Tayton, do you think you could teach me about Sunbreakers? Teach me how to use it?" She asks, leaning back in her pilot seat.

The other Titan hums before replying, "Meet me back at the Tower and we'll talk about it."

She leaves the comm system and her ship streaks across the sky and away from them.

Uriah appears beside Eden and they both share a curious look.

Excitement stirs within her as she finally realizes that she's going to find out more about Sunbreakers. Eden sits up and starts setting up to take them back.

They head back to the Tower and when they set down, the Sunbreaker Titan is waiting for them. Tayton gestures for Eden to follow and leads her to a part of the Tower she's never been before.

It looks like a large cafe with chairs and tables sat out everywhere. Large windows in the roof let light in and the smell of something sweet fills the air. Guardians of every variety sit everywhere and talk and chatter amongst themselves.

Tayton leads her to a table in the back and sits, gesturing for her to take a seat.

A server comes to their table and Tayton orders a sweet roll with some tea. Eden politely declines when the server looks toward her, much too excited and curious to hear what Tayton is going to tell her

"So is there any reason you brought us here?" Eden inquires, leaning against the wooden surface of table.

The Subreaker Titan removes her helmet, giving Eden her first glance of the Titan.

She's an Exo.

White metal plates form her smooth, oval face. An orange mark sits in the middle, going from eye to eye and curving just above her mouth. Bright tangerine eyes stare at her, confidence radiating from the optics.

"Alright newbie, what do you wanna know?" Tayton speaks, a ruby light flaring up in her mouth with every word she speaks.

"What exactly are Sunbreakers?" Eden asks, sitting forward eagerly.

Tayton chuckles at her but answers none the less.

"Well Sunbreakers are free lancers, or as most people would call them, mercenaries," She begins.

"Mercenaries?" Eden echoes.

"Yeah, mercenaries. See, a long time ago, Subreakers broke away from the City. Became guns for hire basically."

Eden frowns at that. Why would they ever leave the City? It just doesn't make sense for anybody with the Light to become a gun for hire.

"The old Vanguard before Ikora, Osiris, he tried to make a deal with them. Hire them to protect the City. But then he took off and the Vanguard changed. Zavala took over for the Titan's. He didn't like the agreements that came with the terms. The Sunbreakers and the City have had a rocky relationship ever since." Tayton shrugs, leaning back in her chair.

Eden starts to speak up when Uriah pops out of her armor.

"I remember hearing about that, back when I was first looking for Eden. But if you're a Sunbreaker, how come you're not with them?" The little Ghost inquires, beeping curiously.

Tayton stays silent a moment, glancing up at one of the windows in the ceiling wistfully.

"I didn't like what the order was doing. Don't get me wrong, I liked it at first. Going out into the wilds and fighting. Feeling the sol call out to you and wielding it to combat the darkness, it's a thrill." Tayton lifts a hand up, allowing a little flame to dance between her gloved fingers.

"But, it wasn't right to abandon the City like that either." Her Ghost appears beside her, whispering softly.

"Exactly," Tayton confirms. "So I came back. It wasn't easy at first. Neither the Vanguard nor the City trusted me. Eventually, they saw I had no bad intentions. After awhile, they accepted me."

The server from earlier comes back with Tayton's order in hand. Her Ghost settles itself closer to Tayton, almost as if it's trying to hide. It waits until the server has left the table to talk again.

"Not all of them trust you," It whispers shyly.

The female Sunbreaker waves a hand absentmindedly. The plates on her face shift as she takes a bite of her sweet roll.

"There's a few who still don't like me," Tayton agrees around her mouthful.

Eden hums before a troubled look passes over her face. She sits forward with a frown on her mouth.

"So does that mean I won't have a chance of being a Sunbreaker?"

Tayton quickly sits up, swallowing her food.

"No, no! Sol can still call out to you. It can still whisper to your Light. Some people just decide that they like the attraction of the Sunbreaker Order better than they like staying in the City," The Exo reassures her.

A relieved look passes over Eden's face and her body, which has unintentionally tensed up, relaxes.

"So newbie, you still have a chance to learn the subclass," Tayton laughs at the younger Titan.

Eden smiles and looks at her Ghost.

"Hear that Uriah? I might be a Sunbreaker one day."

Uriah puffs his shell up in pride, making the two Guardians laugh.

The rest of the afternoon is spent with Eden and Tayton chatting idly about her becoming a Sunbreaker and the up coming matches of Crucible they planned to do.

 


	15. An Unfamiliar Voice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the long update! Since I've finished my other story, I'll try and work on this one more! Anyways, I hope you enjoy the chapters I finally managed to write! Until next time :)

The idea comes to her as she watches Axel crochet.

She wants to go on a mission. By herself.

Eden's not sure if Axel or the others would approve. She's not even sure that Uriah will approve, but she has her own reasons. Besides, she wants to see if she can do it too. It eats and eats at her until finally, she blurts out, "Can I do a mission by myself?"

The question startles the Exo. He stops knitting to look over at her with as much surprise as his metal face can muster.

"Where did this come from?" He grunts out, eyeing her up an down.

Eden nervously taps her leg before saying,"Well, I've been revived close to a month now. I just thought it was time for me to go out there and do it."

It's not the full reason but it'll have to do for now. Suspicion and curiosity float through their connection from Uriah but she ignores it for now.

Axel stays silent and it makes her even nervous.

Slate phases into being next to his guardian, turning toward him. They seem to communicate, wordlessly, before he turns to Eden.

The gold Ghost hovers closer to her, looking Eden straight in the eye.

"It would be dangerous for you to go alone."

Eden frowns and opens her mouth to protest but Slate cuts her off.

"But we think it's time you did. You've proved yourself to be capable time and time again."

A grin stretches across Eden's face.

"Really?" She exclaims excitedly.

Axel gives a single nod before resuming his knitting.

"Thank you," She says, smiling softly.

The Exo gives a grunt but she can see the subtle shift of a smile in his face plates.

"Go on kid. Get outta here," He speaks, gruffly.

Eden jumps up and practically runs out the door with a quick goodbye. She's halfway down the hall when Uriah appears beside her.

"So what was the real reason?"

Eden glances in front of her and behind her before lowering her voice and saying,"Remember when we went to the moon?"

He nods.

"Well I saw someone there. I'm hoping that if we go alone, they be more willing to come back."

His shell twists and turns as he thinks.

"So you're curious," Uriah states.

"Yep," She says, popping the p.

They enter the plaza, weaving into the bustling crowd of Guardians. Uriah ducks closer to Eden and sighs.

"Alright, I'll send a ping to the Speaker. I heard he has a mission for anyone going to the moon, if that's where we're going."

Eden smiles and nods at her companion before continuing the rest of the walk in silence. Finally, they reach their ship and board. Once the jumpship is running, Eden puts in the coordinates for the moon and the ship zooms out of the Tower, heading toward their destination.

As they fly, the Speaker patches into their communication channel and explains their mission.

The Hive are in some kind of ritual that's slowly draining the Traveler's Light. It's up to Guardian and Ghost to understand it and then, destroy it.

Eden's not so sure about understanding it but she's certainly up for destroying it.

Soon after the message, they arrive at the moon.

The same as before, it starts to feel wrong being wrapped in the darkness but she brushes it off. She has a mission to do and she needs to focus on that.

"What's the plan of attack Uriah?" Eden asks, looking around the deserted, craggy surface.

"Well, the ritual could be happening in any one of their thousands of chambers. We'll need to find cracks deep enough for me to scan to map out the entire Hive Fortress," Uriah answers, beeping and spinning his shell.

Eden nods and hops on her sparrow, racing across the moon to do as he says.

The first crack she comes along is surrounded by Hive. It takes her less than five minutes to clear them out and let Uriah scan the crack.

"Okay, good," Uriah beeps. "But, it's not enough. We need to find another crack."

Eden nods and turns to find another one. About two miles away from the first one is where she finds the second crack.

This time Fallen await her and she hurries to finish them off. Once there's not a single dreg or vandel in sight, Eden allows Uriah to phase into being next to her.

His shell twists and turns as he scans it. The longer he takes, the more Eden begins to suspect she'll have to find another crack. Suddenly, Uriah stops and turns to her with excitement in his optic.

"The good news is I found the ritual chamber," He says, cheerfully. Then, his voice changes to a more serious tone.

"The bad news? It's beneath the Temple of Crota."

Eden feels herself wince and her body tense up.

The same place where she and Uriah met the dead Ghost and his Guardian, and the Wizard.

Truth be told, she hasn't really thought about it since the day it happened. That didn't mean that she didn't like the place any less. She just knew that this time, it would be safer then it used to be. Besides, she's a guardian and with the Light and Uriah by her side, there's really nothing to fear.

Eden relaxes just the tiniest bit and breathes out before looking toward Uriah again.

"Alright, let's go."

Uriah disappears as Eden hops on her sparrow and zooms toward the pathway she'd taken on her first trip to the moon. Before she knows it, Eden is back at the narrow path of high walls.

Slowly, she walks along the way, watching warily.

Halfway through, Uriah appears and static crackles from his core. Bits and pieces of words and white noise blast through. She can't pick out anything and looks at Uriah.

"Maybe the Speaker's trying to contact us?" He says, questioningly.

Then, he twists and turns, spinning.

"Well, we should get out in the open. Better chance of locking the signal," Uriah beeps, looking towards her.

Eden nods and hold down the rest of the path.

She gets to where the Titan's body used to sit and looks towards Uriah.

He floats away from her shoulder and extends his shell. Weaves of light shine through from his core and he hovers around in a circle.

"You're interesting. Not entirely interesting, but.... you have promise," A strange voice states, crackling through the channel reserved for them.

Uriah shoots Eden a look of curiosity and shock. She looks back and then all around them.

She's not sure who's talking but she has an idea that it might be the stranger from before. Though, Eden still asks,"Who is that?"

She's hoping that there might be a possibility Uriah can tell her but she's sorely disappointed by what he says next.

"I don't know; I'm losing the signal."

When he finishes, the voice speaks up again.

"Guardian, I know what you're about to do. It's brave. But there are enemies out here you would not believe," The stranger says.

Confusion swirls in her mind. She continues looking around but responds with, "Out where?"

The stranger completely ignores her question.

"Go down and face the Hive, and if you live, come and find me."

With that, the voice disappears and the static clears up.

Uriah reverts back to his shell and turns to Eden, blinking his optic.

"The signal dropped but I got some broken coordinates. Venus, Northern Hemisphere. Ishtar region."

He spins and beeps and chirps before looking up at her.

"What do we do?"

Eden thinks for a moment before her helmet covered head swivels toward Uriah.

"We go down. Do as they say," She answers, bringing up her auto rifle.

"Are you sure about this? I mean it's a mysterious voice that's telling us to meet them, if we survive the Hive."

Eden cracks a smile Uriah can't see before walking forward.

"That's why, when we're finished, we'll go to the Vanguard. See what they have to say. But," she pauses, stopping momentarily, "we don't tell the others. Not yet at least."

Uriah looks at her curiously but doesn't disagree. He only nods before disappearing her.

Eden starts to surge forward until a voice by her ear, the same ones she'd been hearing since the Array, speaks.

_"Be_ _careful. Hive have something of Traveler."_

Eden stiffens but she nods. Then, with hardened eyes, she surges below, into the Hive dug tunnel.


	16. More Machine Than Nature

It's been a long, few days for Eden.

Her mission on the Moon wore her out, physically and mentally. All she really wanted to do was get to her ship, go home, and sleep, but unfortunately for her, one little dreg decided to get in her way. Embarrassingly, she ended up dying to that one little dreg. One. Just one. Not to mention when she did finally kill the dreg, the patrol the dreg had been with finally decided to show up. With a spider tank.

Needless to say, Eden's done with any missions for now. She's ready to get to the apartment, shower, and sleep for a day or two. But, as usual when her day goes wrong, something important pops up.

Uriah, who's been quiet all the way back to the Tower, speaks up, voice guilt filled.

"Eden, the Vanguard, and our fireteam, are requesting us."

A long sigh slips past frowning lips and weary golden eyes shut with exhaustion.

"Best not keep them waiting then," Eden exhales, rubbing at her face.

She proceeds to make her way down to the Vanguard, where she finds her fireteam and Zavala waiting.

Ikora Rey and Cayde are missing this time, Eden notices. She wonders, briefly, where they are but the thought goes away when everyone looks toward her.

"Titan," Zavala acknowledges when Eden stands by Jaren. She dips her head in greeting and waits for him to speak.

"There's an urgent matter on Venus we'd like you to attend to. And we'd like you to report back as soon as possible."

Axel, Lance, and Jaren straighten up, a certain sternness to their faces now.

"Of course Commander," Axel replies gruffly.

Zavala relaxes just the tiniest bit before turning his attention back to his work. Her fireteam take it as their cue to leave and turn to head toward the shipwright. Eden stays behind, earning an inquisitive stare from Zavala.

"Titan?"

She steps forward

"Commander. I recently went to do a mission on the Moon. I'd like to talk to you about something I heard."

He nods.

"Come see me when you're finished and we'll discuss it."

She salutes him before turning and catching up with the rest of her fireteam. When she falls into step with them again, they give her questioning glances but say nothing. Eden practically sighs in relief as they head toward the shipwright. Jaren follows behind her, bright eyes watering closely.

As they go down the steps to the shipwright, Jaren falls behind with Eden. He leans up close enough to glance over her long face and sluggish movement.

"Are you alright?" He asks, quietly enough the other two don't hear.

Eden looks up at him, startled, before giving him a tired smile.

"I'm fine, just really tired is all," She answers honestly.

Jaren gazes at her so intensely, she feels naked. A few seconds pass and then he nods and leans back.

"Alright. Don't be afraid to ask for help during the mission if you need it."

Eden can't help but grin.

"You'll be the first to know."

She tries winking as playfully as she can. Except, it just looks like she's trying to sneeze and smile all at the same time.

Jaren laughs at her expression while Uriah tries to desperately muffle his giggles, facing his shell away from Eden. She glances between the two, confused.

"I'll show you later," Uriah whispers, laughter escaping between his words.

Eden shrugs but doesn't protest, deciding it's really better not to ask.

The remainder of the walk is spent in silence until finally they get to her jumpship. Eden takes only a step towards the pilot seat before Jaren grabs her by the arm and pulls her back.

"How about you let Lance and I pilot this time?"

The idea sounds so enticing Eden doesn't think she can resist it. She'd be allowed to get some much needed rest and relaxation. For once, would it really be so bad to be a passenger instead of a pilot?

Eden sends him a grateful look before settling in one of the back seats. She lays her helmet beside her, along with her auto rifle and shotgun, before getting comfortable in her seat and leaning her head back against the cool ship.

Before long, she's out and in a deep sleep.

It only feels like a few minutes before she's being awakened again. She blinks her eyes owlishly and yawns, looking up.

Jaren stands above her, shaking her arm gently. His glowing turquoise eyes stare down at her with amusement while a smile pulls at the corners of his lips.

"Eden, wake up. We're a few minutes from being in Venus's orbit."

She stretches and stands, slipping her shotgun on her back and grabbing her auto rifle. After, Eden walks up to the front with Jaren.

Axel has taken Jaren's place and is up front with Lance. Neither turn around but they give noises of acknowledgement all the same. As Eden rubs the sleep from her eyes, she speaks.

"So, what's the plan?"

Lance and Axel put the ship in auto pilot before turning to look at her.

"Well, there's two places on Venus the Vanguard need us to check. Axel and I are going to head toward the Istar Academy. You and Jaren will go to the Endless Steps. And don't worry about being lost, we'll drop you off." Lance stands and checks his gear, muttering under his breath.

Eden nods and goes to sit back down. She checks her guns again and again, waiting patiently for them to get to their area of Venus. Her forbearing attitude is rewarded when Lance announces, only moments later, that they're at the Endless Steps.

She slips her helmet on and stands with Jaren.

"Contact us when you get there. You may not be going to the most dangerous part but it's not exactly safe either," Lance warns Jaren.

He turns back in the pilot seat, seemingly ready for them to teleport out of the ship. As they get ready to, he sits up suddenly and whirls around to look at them.

"Remember Jaren, the darkness is thick down there too. Don't die."

She watches as her partner inclines his head in understanding before putting his helmet on and throwing his hood up.

Seconds later, they're both standing on Venus.

It's an oddly beautiful and other worldly sight.

The area around them is lush and green with strange, colorful plants and wild-looking ferns. Bright, vibrant flowers make way for old stone steps that intermingle with strange mechanical blocks. They lead up to a circle archway where a perfect view of a volcano shines through. Spouts of luminescent blue liquid shoot up in the air before trickling down the base.

Eden stares in awe before Jaren walks up beside her.

"Amazing, isn't it?"

She nods, unable to speak. Jaren gives a breathy chuckle before moving past her. "Follow me."

Eden does and he leads her past the steps and towards another set. She notices a doorway carved out of the rock as they finish walking up them. Upon coming closer and closer to the doorway, it becomes clear that the inside is filled with more mechanical blocks. Small lights wink back at her and she can almost swear that the blocks are moving but everytime she blinks, they're still.

One of her gloved hand brushes against the wall as they enter, fingers running over the lumpy and oddly cold surface.

"Jaren, what is this?" She murmurs, inspecting the strange metal.

"All in time. Come on," He replies, gesturing for her to keep following him.

Eden walks behind him, following as the narrow walkway splits off into a bigger hallway and then into a huge room.

Mechanical blocks float in the air, appearing and disappearing. White columns occasionally appear on top of them and other times, strange structures that seem to have no rhyme or rhyme to them.

The whole room itself seems to give off a distant hum. It feels unnatural and like it's more machine than nature.

Jaren gestures for her to stay back as he walks to the edge of the floor, which Eden notices dips off into a sea of black.

As she looks around, he finally speaks.

"This is a result of the Vex."

She's curious and she can feel the interest flowing from Uriah.

"Vex?"

He turns to her, his helmet studying her.

"There's not really a lot to say about them because no one knows a lot about them. All we really know is they want to convert everything into a machine, such as this room." He gestures to the space around them.

Eden's eyes widen behind her helmet and she says with an incredulous tone, "You mean this used to be a part of Venus? Like the place we set down in before we came here?"

He nods once before turning to look over the ledge again. After a moment, he pulls out his Ghost to scan the environment, occasionally murmuring a few words to it. Once it's Ghost is done, she hears it whisper something.

"It's getting worse. More so than we predicted. We have to find it. Soon."

Before Eden can ask about it, a faint _whoosh_ sounds under her and then she's standing on air.

She only gets a second to call out Jaren's name before she's falling.


	17. No Memories, but All Feelings

Eden's falling. She's falling and falling and falling.

Briefly, she catches a glimpse of Jaren looking over the edge at her, his body tense. A muffled call echoes after her but with how fast she's falling, she can't hear, or see, him anymore.

A cold sweat forms on her brow.

Eden's never been in a place with a lot of Darkness but the farther she falls, the heavier and thicker it gets. It's like a blanket trying to suffocate her Light.

She has to pull herself together. If she dies here, it'll be her last death. Eden needs to stop that from happening. Fast.

"Uriah!" She shouts, trying to maneuver her body around toward the direction she's falling.

The little Ghost comes out beside her, looking panicked.

"I need you to transmit us to a ledge!" She yells.

"What? I don't know if there are any here!" He calls back, desperation in his voice.

"Find one! If you don't, it's not looking good for either of us!"

Uriah quickly extends his shell from his core and begins to scan the surrounding area. As he's doing so, Eden notices that she can finally see the ground now.

It's constantly shifting. One second, it looks normal and the next it's filled with craggy, needle point rocks. And it seems to be shifting to the rocks faster and faster.

"Uriah, if you could hurry..." Eden begins nervously.

"I'm trying!" He stresses, turning more quickly now.

She's mere feet from the ground, watching as the sharp rocks stick out and point up toward her.

"URIAH!" She shouts.

"There!" He yells and then she's disappearing just as the one of the ends stabs through her helmet, inches away from her eye.

There's disorientation but it goes away quickly as Eden realizes she's on a large ledge thousands of feet up from where she'd been. A sigh of relief leaves her mouth and she pulls her helmet off her head.

A gaping hole sits in her visor and she frowns before tossing it off the ledge.

"You saved me from a very, very painful death. Thank you Uriah," Eden says earnestly, turning to her Ghost.

His shell sags and he eyes her with an exhausted look.

"Yes, well, let's not do that again."

"No objection to that," She agrees.

Eden looks up and around them but the only thing she can see is pitch blackness and metal, Vex converted walls.

"Uriah, where are we?" Eden asks, turning back to her Ghost

He beeps and responds,"Miles below the Endless Steps."

Eden sighs. "Is there any way that we can get back up?"

"No, not that I can tell."

A longer sigh falls from her lips and she crouches, glancing around. Silence befalls her and her Ghost and they sit there for a few moments before Eden hears someone call her name.

She looks up just in time to see Jaren hop onto the platform next to her.

He's quick to reach a hand out to her until he realizes what he's doing and snaps back. Eden looks at him curiously as he seems to battle with himself for a moment. Then, in an instant, he's back to himself.

Jaren turns back to her, helmet searching her body. Probably for wounds, if she had to guess.

"You're not hurt, are you?" He inquires.

She shakes her head.

"Alright. Lux?"

His dark gray and navy Ghost pops out. It still somewhat shocks her that his eye is white, unlike Uriah's sky blue one.

It peers at her warily before hovering over to Jaren.

"When's the next time segment for this configuration to change?"

Lux makes a series of beeps and chirps before responding.

"Exactly twenty four hours from now."

Jaren nods.

"Is there any way to contact the others?"

Another series of beeps and chirps. "There's no signal down here."

Jaren turns to face Eden. "It seems like we'll be staying here for awhile."

A long, low groan follows and Eden plops on the ground unceremoniously. Uriah hovers down to her shoulder, sinking onto the duo of her shoulder ungracefully.

Jaren says nothing but follows suit and sits right next to her.

They sit in silence for awhile. Eden taps her leg and hums while Jaren sits beside her quietly. He leans against a wall not far from her, with his legs bent in front of him and his arms sling over the tops of his knees.

As she sits there, Eden begins to think for a moment before speaking up.

"Jaren, do you remember anything from your life before?"

She gets no answer and turns to look at him.

He's looking away from her, into the chasm of darkness surrounding them. His body is tense and stiff. It's hard to decipher what he's thinking because Jaren is nearly unreadable.

Lux whirls to face her, staring long and hard. It's almost as if it's trying to freeze her over with a glare. It's working.

Eden starts to feel uncomfortable and turns away again, muttering a soft apology.

She gazes down at Uriah with a helpless look. He returns it back with a confused shrug and they fall into silence again.

Eden resumes her humming to ease the tension in the air and to cover the uneasy quietness.

It's only when Uriah is dozing on her shoulder and her humming slows down that Jaren finally speaks up.

"No, I don't remember anything."

She sits up, attention focused solely on him.

Jaren pulls his helmet off and sets it to the side, gently, before turning to face Eden. A deep sorrow has settled in his eyes and a soft sigh falls from his lips.

"There are no memories, but there are feelings."

Eden moves closer, careful not to wake her sleeping Ghost.

"There's a longing, and a love that settles into my bones and spreads a warmth into my body. As if I'm next to the Sun."

She's infatuated with what Jaren's saying. She can't turn away and she can't stop listening.

"Then, there's loss. So deep that it sinks into my soul and laces it with agony. And finally, there's nothing. Nothing at all."

Her heart aches for him and her eyes become itchy and watery.

"I'm sorry Jaren. I didn't mean to make you relive it," She speaks quietly, voice thick with emotion.

She stares down at her fingers as they tap against her armor, trying not to cry.

"Don't be, we all have our pasts. Some have memories, others have feelings. Most have neither. I suppose I'd rather have an inkling of who I was than none at all," He sighs, settling back to where he was.

Eden decides to let a few moments pass before she speaks up again.

"I don't know. It hurts when I try to remember, almost like I'm not supposed to/."

She doesn't hear Jaren say anything so she speaks up again.

"I want to remember. I  want to know who I used to be and why I feel the way I do sometimes...but it hurts. I just...I don't know."

Eden feels more than sees Jaren stare at her and she meets his gaze with her own.

He doesn't say anything but he scoots over, leaving just enough space for another person to sit next to him. Eden takes it as her queue to get up, carefully as to not disturb her Ghost, and sit next to him.

Eden leans against Jaren's shoulder. It feels nice.

He's slightly cooler than she is but it's still very comfortable. Her heart gives a warm tug and a blush covers her cheeks but she hides it, lowering her head to let a few black strands cover her face.

Silence descends again but this time, neither makes a move to break it.

Eventually, exhaustion settles over Eden again and in her tired state of mind, she nuzzles her head into his neck without thinking twice. Jaren stiffens under her for a moment before relaxing again.

Eden slips off, dreaming of warmth in the darkness and glowing eyes.

 


	18. The Warmth In Her Chest

Eden is still asleep when she feels something nudge her slightly. She grumbles and shifts, snuggling into something cool but soft and tries to go back to sleep. A sigh of content leaves her coral colored lips and Eden begins to doze again until something nudges her again. An annoyed grunt leaves her and Eden cracks her eyes open.

The black figure stands in front of her.

It hovers and waves, seemingly waiting for Eden to notice it.

Eden sits up and stares at it cautiously, wide awake now. Tense, gold eyes follow and watch closely, warily. Then, she turns to look at Jaren and Uriah.

Uriah is gone, probably returned back into her at one point while she slept.

Jaren sits beside her with his head leaned against the wall, asleep.

A blush covers her entire face when Eden realizes that she must have fallen asleep on his shoulder. She was snuggling into him! Ignoring the burn on her face, Eden faces the figure again.

Its form wavers before she hears it whisper, _"Come. Platform will disappear soon."_

Hesitantly, Eden stands up but she stops to look at it.

"Why? Why do you help me?"

A low chuckle answers her.

_"Always wary. One day, I will tell. Not today. Platforms will change soon."_

Eden sighs but she figures it'll have to do. She goes and kneels beside Jaren. Her face heats up but she releases a breath and begins to shake his shoulder gently. Immediately, he startles awake, tense.

For a moment, he stares blankly past Eden as if she's not there but once he turns to look at her, Jaren relaxes and looks at her in concern.

"We need to go. Now. The platform is gonna disappear any minute," Eden insists with a serious look about her.

Confusion takes over his face and Lux appears beside him, glaring at her sharply.

"No, it's not. The configuration still has another hour or so to go," It says, coolly.

Eden stares at it, unable to believe that the Ghost doesn't believe her. Her mouth drops open and she owlishly blinks at the small, glowering Ghost. Moments later, Eden snaps her mouth shut and gives Lux a hard look.

"Look, believe me, or don't, this ledge is going to disappear. I don't know about you but I don't want to be here when it does."

Lux flashes a bewildered glance, turning between Jaren and Eden. His Guardian stays quiet a moment before standing.

"Well, I have no reason to believe she'd lie," Jaren speculates, nodding towards Eden.

His Ghost eyes him in shock.

"What? You're just going to believe her?!"

Jaren glances at the Ghost, one eyebrow raised.

"Well, would you rather take the risk of us staying and being completely wrong?"

The Ghost shakes his shell sullenly.

"Alright. Eden, if you would." Jaren gestures for her to lead the way.

Eden gives a relieved smile and turns to look back at the figure.

The black form disappears, hovering over on a ledge just above the one they're on. Eden gestures for Jaren to follow and jumps, boosting herself up and into the platform.

She watches with a close eye as Jaren takes a couple of steps back and makes a running head start. Just as he gets ready to jump, the platform disappears from underneath his feet.

Eden can see that it completely throws off his jump and immediately ducks down and stretches out her arm, hand out.

Jaren sees it, gives one more hop, and grabs her glove covered hand. Eden pulls him up and onto the platform next to her, relief flooding her body. Jaren looks between her and the ledge, incredulous. His Ghost appears looking none too happy.

"How did you know that it would disappear that quick?" It asks, suspicious.

She side eyes the ghost before saying, "I have my ways."

Then, she turns and looks at the figure.

" _Follow. This way_ ," It whispers, blending in with the shadows at the very edge of the platform.

Eden follows and finds that there's a small little tunnel in the wall, just big enough for them to crawl through.

With a shrug, she crouches and heads into the narrow space. Behind her, she can hear Jaren crawl and shuffle, giving a grunt here and there. For a while, they crawl in silence. It's only when Jaren clears his throat that Eden perks up.

"So, I'm comfortable, huh?"

Eden stops, face going bright red.

"What?" She sputters, embarrassed.

"You were mumbling in your sleep."

She can practically hear the amusement in his voice. It suddenly feels too hot in the tiny tunnel and there's no way her face isn't red. Uriah is laughing at her inside her mind and he's very, very amused at the situation.

"Oh no," She groans, wanting to slap a hand to her face in shame.

Eden can't believe she said that in her sleep. It was true but he didn't need to know that! Oh, what was she going to do?

A gentle touch on her back brings her from her mind and she glances over her shoulder.

Jaren's brightly glowing eyes are looking at her in light-hearted amusement and kindness. He doesn't seem to be mocking her though. He only smiles gently before saying, "Thank you for the compliment. It was very kind of you."

Her heart thuds in her chest, hard. The warmth from before returns and she stares at him wide-eyed. She feels a blush cover her face and she turns around quickly.

"Oh, I um well uh, you're welcome. I guess," She stutters, crawling forward again.

Jaren chuckles behind her but doesn't respond. Uriah is laughing and chattering excitedly in her head. She doesn't catch the words but she gets the gist. He thinks it's cute that she's acting this way. Eden shakes her head but says nothing about it.

Finally, he quiets down and they make their way through the tunnel. It takes a while, and a lot of crawling, but Eden sees light in the distance. It's not sunlight but it's light and it looks better than the dark tunnel.

She quickens her pace and hurries to the opening. The sight of a thin hallway greets her. Half of it is made from what looks like old stone and the other half looks like the mechanical blocks from earlier.

The black figure appears again, shifting and waving.

" _Follow,_ " It mutters before moving off to the left.

"This way," Eden calls over her shoulder to Jaren as she walks to the left.

In moments, they're lead back to the split in the hallway. The figure points to one of the splits.

" _There. Your friends are waiting_ ," It mumbles softly.

Eden relaxes the tiniest bit but the wary look doesn't fade from her eyes.

"I still don't trust you but...thanks," Eden acknowledges, tipping her head.

The figure tilts its head, almost as if it expects that response and a ghostly laugh floats from it.

" _You are still the same in some ways_."

Before she can ask what it means, the figure is gone. A sigh leaves her and she turns to look at Jaren.

He only gives a curious, concerned look and steps closer to her.

She shakes her head and waves him off, turning to make her way down the hallway the figure pointed out. Just as it said, both Eden and Jaren end up back at the surface of Venus.

The air is pleasantly warm but fresh. A nice change from the dry air in the big room.

Uriah appears beside her, spinning and zooming through the air. The segments of his shell spin as he sighs in relief at being topside again. Eden only laughs at her Ghost, watching him fly around. After a few moments, he returns to her, content. Eden smiles brightly at him before turning and glancing back at Jaren.

He's stretching and speaking in low tones to his ghost. She can't make out everything they're saying but it seems to be serious. The decision of whether or not to ask is interrupted by something blotting out the sky above them.

A glance tells her it's her ship.

A voice comes through Uriah, Lance's voice, and tells them he's bringing them in.

Her body dissipates into a million particles and reappears on the ship, standing behind the pilot seat. Lance shoots up from his place and looks her over in concern.

"Are you okay? Where's your helmet? Why didn't you answer us?" He inquires, scanning her for injuries.

Eden laughs at his fluttering before reaching out and squeezing one of his hands.

"I'm okay. Had a little trouble but we're fine."

He calms down a little after hearing her speak. Then, he eyes Jaren over her shoulder. They stare at each other for a few minutes before Lance straightens up and looks down at Eden.

"Would you mind flying the ship while we talk?"

Eden nods and takes his place, flicking the right switches and powering up the ship. They're off as soon as she pushes the lever forward.

The fly back to the Tower is quiet except the low murmuring of her fireteam in the back.

Uriah stares at the blur of space around them. He seems to think on something before turning his blue diamond shape optic towards her.

"So, do we talk to the Vanguard now?"

Eden raises an eyebrow and glances over at her Ghost. She'd nearly forgotten about that with everything that had happened.

She hums, quiet a moment as she contemplates his words.

"Yes. It'll be the first thing we do when we get there," She finally decides on.

Her Ghost nods and settles on the dash of the ship, watching bits and pieces of galaxies pass by at hyper speed.

The jump ship finally arrives at their destination and Eden turns off the hyperdrive, steering the ship manually the rest of the way. In the distance, the familiar sight of the Tower becomes bigger and bigger the closer they get. Eden carefully maneuvers her way into the hanger and settles it down. Uriah floats up from his place and looks toward her. In a wordless conversation, it's decided that they leave now to go see the Vanguard.

Eden stands to her feet and turns to her fireteam.

They're still speaking in hushed voices but stop talking as soon as Eden approaches.

"I won't be at the apartment for a while. There's something I'd like to discuss with the Vanguard about my mission on the moon," Eden explains as they look at her with inquiring stares.

They all look at each other and then her.

"Is something wrong?" Lance asks, worry ringing his voice.

She shakes her head.

"Not at all. I'd just like to inform the Vanguard of something I heard. I'll explain later."

He accepts the answer and the other two nod.

Eden gives them a quick goodbye before swiftly making her way towards the Vanguard Hall. In mere minutes, she's standing at the edge of the table.

All three Vanguard mentors are there this time and each shift to look up at her.

"Ah, Titan. You're back," Zavala acknowledges.

"Sir." She salutes.

"I suppose this is about the mission you wanted to discuss?"

The other two Vanguard are now solely focused on her as she nods.

"Go ahead," He urges crossing his hands behind his back, watching her with a stern, unwavering gaze.

She tells them everything.


	19. One Way Trip To Venus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took so long to update. I had a lot of things going on and I wasn't sure where I wanted to take this chapter. But I've finally finished and here it is. I'll try to update sooner next time. Until then :)

Eden plops down on her bed, the meeting with the Vanguard playing through her head.

It was short, thankfully.

Eden briefed them on her mission on the moon, making sure to include her first sighting of the stranger. Once she finished, Ikora hummed and clasped her hands behind her back. A curious glint alighted her wise eyes and she began to tell Eden who she'd seen.

The Exo Stranger. Practically a myth, only few had ever seen them and none had ever been approached like Eden had. The surprise on the other two Vanguard's face was more than enough to tell Eden she had been a special case. Which was exactly why they told her to go to Venus as the stranger said, only reporting back when she found them. With that, they dismissed her. From there, Eden had returned to the empty apartment and collapsed on her bed.

The free moment had given her time to think about the whole embarrassing thing with Jaren.

Her heart beats faster just thinking about the ordeal. Heat rushes back to her cheeks and embarrassment wells up in her chest. Eden is not going to live this down, she's sure. She's hoping maybe one day soon that everybody will forget it, like it never happened.

For some reason, that brings her sadness. A small, tiny part of her doesn't exactly want to forget the warm feeling Jaren gives her. It's nice and comforting......and a low groan leaves her lips. Eden covers her eyes with one arm and sinks further into the mattress.

A beep sounds and Eden peeks from under her arm to see Uriah give her a knowing look.

"Still thinking about it?" He asks, hovering by her shoulders.

"Yeah," She drawls, shifting to cover her face again.

"Well, you know it's perfectly okay to like someone, right?"

Eden snorts and raises up to look at him.

"He's a friend. Nothing more."

The look Uriah gives her says enough but he decides to drop it. Instead, he spins his shell once before landing on her pillow with a soft thud. Eden shakes her head faintly before standing and heading to the closet tucked into one corner of her room. It slips open with a quiet whoosh and Eden reaches in to grab an extra bodysuit.

"What are you doing?" Uriah asks, watching closely.

"Well, I'm gonna shower and go see Banshee. Then, it's a one way trip back to Venus," She answers, taking off pieces of her armor and tossing them to the floor.

"Already?" He inquires, hovering off the bed and looking at her curiously.

"Yes. I need to know what's more dangerous than any hive or fallen we've seen. Besides, it's something to keep us busy while Jaren and the others do their Vanguard appointed thing."

A sly look falls into his optic and Uriah shifts closer to Eden.

"Is this a way to avoid Jaren?"

A nervous chuckle leaves her lips and Eden rolls her eyes.

"Of course not!"

Uriah gets a gleeful look to him and he whirls through the air.

"You are. You are! Awwww!" Uriah gushes, twirling around her head and nudging her cheek.

Eden pouts and ignores him, choosing to walk to the bathroom with a blush spreading across her face. He's right but she won't ever admit it. With her head tilted up, Eden marches into the bathroom, shutting the door on Uriah. A couple of deep breaths later, she's running cold water for a shower and then stepping in.

Icy drops runs rivers down her hair and back as it washes the heat and dirt away from her. Within a handful of minutes, Eden's clean and relaxed, embarrassment long gone from her mind. Once it gets too cold to handle, Eden shuts off the water and steps out, reaching for a towel. As she dries herself off, she looks in the mirror, staring at her face, and find her thoughts turning to the black figure that keeps reappearing everywhere she goes.

Did she know it? Was it possible it was something from her past? Someone she used to know? But as she stares at her reflection, nothing comes to mind except that she's just glowering at herself weirdly. Eden sighs and shakes her head. The towel is dropped and the bodysuit tugged on and zipped up. Slender fingers run through her choppy midnight locks, flicking water droplets out of it.

Once she's finished, Eden leaves the bathroom, bumping right into Uriah as she does so.

She backs up a little bit and sees him looking at her with guilt.

"I'm sorry Eden. I didn't mean to annoy you," He mutters, a pitiful look to his optic.

Eden smiles at him and holds her hand out to him. Immediately, he nuzzles into the skin of her palm, relaxed, and stares up at her.

"It's okay. Promise. Now, are you ready to go to Venus?"

A delighted nod answers her question.

Eden laughs and releases Uriah.

"Alright. Let me put my armor on and drop by Banshee."

Her Ghost chirps excitedly and flies to the door, waiting on her.

As the armor is clicked into place, Eden realizes that it's beginning to look more and more like a Titans armor. There are still a few mismatched pieces but it's starting to come together. She's starting to look like a real Titan.

A smile comes to her face and she clicks in the last piece before grabbing her helmet and guns.

With that, the duo are off to see Banshee-44.

As always, the Tower is bustling with noise, commotion, and busy Guardians. She even catches a glimpse of her fireteam walking down to the Vanguard Hall. A wave is sent their way, which is returned, and Eden makes her way up to Banshee.

The old gunsmith has never talked much, never offered Eden much of anything at all. But she enjoys seeing him all the same. He's short but not rude. Quiet but observant. It's those traits exactly that Eden respects.

But this time as she approaches, he seems to be working on something intently. Banshee gives a surprised grunt when Eden leans against the stall with a cheerful hello.

"Hm, I usually see you at the range."

It's all he says but it's stated more like a fact than a question.

"Yeah, I had some spare glimmer around though. Thought I'd drop by to order a few new guns." Eden smiles brightly.

He stares at her a moment but straightens up, attentive.

"Alright, whatchca looking for?"

Eden straightens, a thoughtful look to her eye.

"Well, I want an auto rifle, with some perks in there. As for the shotgun replacement, I'm thinking more along the lines of a sniper. Something simple please."

He hums and picks up a database from behind him. The sound of tapping and clicking fills the air along with mumbling and muttering. After a moment, he places the datapad down among gun parts and papers, turning back to Eden.

"Give me a few days. Your guns will be ready by then," He grumbles out.

"Thanks Banshee!" Eden chirps, walking away.

Banshee doesn't say anything but his gruff demeanor fades the tiniest bit. He turns to start working on whatever he was before Eden interrupted him. A smile spreads across her face and she makes her way down to the shipwright.

In minutes, she's there and in her ship, zooming into space before kicking into hyper drive.

Within another couple of minutes, Eden slips on her helmet and checks her guns, stashing away extra ammo. Then, she and Uriah are on Venus, watching the ship circle back to orbit.

"Well," Eden starts. "Let's go find the Exo Stranger."

Uriah nods and disappears into her armor.

The sight of a light jade colored sky greets the visor of her helmet. All around her is lush green grass that slowly turns into ferns and vines and trees that entangle with tall, glimmering buildings.

It's beautiful in an odd sort of way, like nature reclaiming what was taken from it. But as amazing as it is, she's here on a mission.

Eden shifts the auto rifle in her hand and surges forward, making her way through the jungles of Venus.

 


	20. The Exo Stranger

It can't be right, at least, Eden doesn't think so. The arrow in her visor has her in a rundown, centuries-old library. Thousands of old books line the plant infested shelves and water drops down onto the grass-covered floor. It's only until she sees the strange creature kneeling in a corner that she knows she is in the right place.

The body is made of some dark colored metal Eden's never seen before. A triangular point forms the front of the head and transitions into a fan shape, curving from one side to the other. One glowing, red eye stares out inspecting the surrounding area. In one of its claw-like hands is a strange, albeit, dangerous looking gun.

Almost as if it knows she's there, it turns to look at her. The eye seems to glow brighter and a mechanical screech leaves it.

Everywhere around the room, a chorus of clicks and beeps go off and she's greeted with more strange looking creatures.

"I have a bad feeling about this," Eden mutters, raising her rifle. Uriah murmurs in agreement.

Screeches sound off and then fiery red bullets are racing towards Eden. She just barely manages to hide behind a pillar before they're zooming through the air where she once stood.

When she can, Eden turns and fires bullets, aiming for the head. Soon though, she finds that only makes it worse.

One of her bullets finds its mark and blasts the fan-shaped head off, sending the strange robot creature into a frenzy. Glitched sounds leave it and it runs straight to Eden, rounding the corner and firing bullets into her armor. Pained groans leave her mouth and she throws a punch at it.

The hit lands but it does nothing more than dent the metal the tiniest bit.

From inside her helmet, Uriah speaks up.

"Eden, look! It's belly!"

Through silted eyes, Eden looks towards its abdomen and sees an oval of white milky substance. It flows and moves, almost as if it has a mind of its own.

That must be its weakness.

Eden lowers her auto rifle towards its liquid center and releases a spray of bullets.

As soon as for the first few pierce the substance, it sprays everywhere and the metal body falls apart with a crash.

"That easy, huh?" Eden says more to herself than Uriah.

She reloads her gun and turns to fire bullets towards the creature's abdomen. Soon, the once full room is empty of any of the creatures and Eden gives a sigh of relief.

"Glad that's over," She huffs, putting her auto rifle on her back.

As soon as the words leave her mouth,  
more screeching sounds up and more creatures flood the room.

Back behind the pillar, she goes, pieces of water rotted wood breaking off as bullets rain upon it.

A hiss leaves Eden's mouth as a bullet slices between a space in her armor, burning her skin. Pain flares up and she looks down.

A singed slice in her side is quickly healing over. Tendrils of light weave through the burnt skin, knitting the flesh back together and smoothing it over. There's no scar left when it's done, but there are trickles of blood rolling down the smooth, tan skin. Something in her mind just does not like the fact she can see herself bleeding. It bothers her so much that she completely forgets that she's in a room with deadly machine creatures.

"Eden? Eden! Focus! They're coming!" Uriah shouts in her head.

Eden shakes out of it and moves just as a huge robot creature slams the floor where she was standing. Instantly, she shoots it and slips into her usual routine of shoot and duck. Although this time, it becomes a blur. There might have been some shooting and some arc, but Eden's not sure. Something feels so horribly wrong with her right now. She doesn't feel like herself.

"Eden?" Uriah asks quietly.

The feelings are hidden away so deep down that Uriah won't be able to find them.

"I'm fine. I'm fine. What are those things?"

Her ghost materializes next to her. He hovers closer to the ground, inspecting the body of one of the creatures, trying to scan it. She kneels next to him, looking over the broken, metal bodies. One glove covered hand reaches out to touch the milky liquid from its abdomen but she's quickly stopped in her tracks.

"Well fought," A familiar voice speaks, cutting through the silence.

Eden stands and looks up automatically, eyes locked on the figure before her.

She knows without having to ask that this is the Exo Stranger. The mysterious figure that's been following her.

"You're here," Eden says, taking a cautious step forward.

Bright white optics glance at her but the Exo ignores the statement altogether. She only walks down the steps and past Eden.

"We haven't got much time."

Curiosity fills Eden to the brim. There are so many things she wants to ask but the only thing she gets out is, "Who are you? And why have you been watching us?"

The Stranger's shoulders are tense as she keeps walking a little ways away.

"I don't even have time to explain why I don't have time to explain," She sighs, an old weariness slipping into her voice.

Then, suddenly, she stops and tilts her head to the side.

"I will. I will. I know."

Eden shares a curious look with Uriah before stepping forward. She wants to ask about it but her Ghost beats her to it.

"Will what?" Uriah inquires, spinning the segments of his shell.

Immediately, the Exo Stranger turns around, eyeing him.

"I wasn't talking to you, little light."

She's never seen her Ghost look so offended before. His shell puffs out and he stares at the Stranger in disdain, annoyance ringing through his words as he speaks.

"Actually, I'm a Ghost, thank you very much."

The Exo Stranger ignores Uriah completely, sending him into another wave of annoyance, and looks toward Eden. She walks closer to the Titan, passing up the broken bodies of the strange robotic creatures.

"Many Guardians fell. Strong ones. But you made it here-" The Stranger breaks off her sentence, turning her head and speaking to someone other than Eden again.

"Yes, I'm listening," She starts.

A few moments pass.

"They are here, with me."

It's like she's talking to someone. But who? There's no one around but her, Eden, and Uriah.

Her Ghost, being the little brave thing he is, flies up to the Exo Stranger. He rotates around her body, inspecting and looking.

"I wonder who she's talking to," He muses, hovering closer to her face.

As he's doing so, whoever the stranger is talking to has apparently finished speaking. She mutters an understood and looks up, pushing Uriah away from her face. Her attention goes back to Eden.

"You need my help Guardian," She proposes, coming closer.

"Is that why you contacted us? Brought us here?" Eden asks, gazing her warily through the helmet.

The Stranger makes a noise of disagreement but says nothing. Minutes pass and Eden's beginning to think that the Stranger isn't going to say anything until she abruptly turns.

Eden watches as she looks upon the ground, scanning the bodies.

"They brought us here. The Vex. Evil so dark, it despises other evil."

The Exo Stranger comes upon one creature who hadn't fallen to complete pieces. It's still twitching and moving but it doesn't seem to be active. As she kneels to inspect it, Eden reaches her light out towards the Stranger.

She's shocked when there's no pull back. There's absolutely nothing there at all.

"You're not a Guardian," Uriah states in realization.

The Exo Stranger looks up quickly, a hint of something flashing in her eyes, before looking away again.

"No, I was not forged in light," She says, with something akin to regret.

She stands before placing one foot on the creature's body, right above the oval of milky liquid.

"But I believe where our paths cross, ground.... could break."

Her voice exhales the last part as she crushes the oval, making the creature give a dying screech.

Eden and Uriah share a look and turn back to the Stranger just as she looks back towards them.

"Have you heard of the Black Garden?"

Eden has no idea what she's talking about. But Uriah seems to. He gets an oddly somber air to him. Eden watches curiously as her Ghost looks towards the ground, avoiding eye contact with both of them.

"I've heard the legends," He admits quietly.

The Exo nods, pleased, before walking away from the creature's body and towards the middle of the room.

"The greatest threat to us all lies where these machines are born."

She turns and it almost feels like she's looking straight through Eden's visor and right into her eyes.

"Find the black Garden. Rip out its heart. Only then will your Traveler being to heal." She speaks, earnestly.

For a few moments, Eden doesn't know what to do. The stream of information she's just been told is a lot to process. Somehow, though, she pushes through it and musters out, "Can you help us find it?"

The Stranger looks away from Eden, distant and evasive once more.

"My paths my own. I can't."

Unintentionally, a sigh of annoyance leaves Eden's lips.

This mysterious stranger calls Eden all the way up to Venus and tells her all about these Vex creatures only to be of no help with finding a way to stop them. As she's stewing on that, Uriah shocks her by speaking up.

"If we're going to find the Black Garden then we need to see the awoken."

He looks up at Eden and through their bond, she can feel the nervousness and the hesitance.

The Stranger perks up.

"Ah yes. The Awoken. Out there, wavering between the light and the dark. A side should always be taken, little light," She hums, addressing Uriah.

She glances at Eden, her eyes piercing and the metal plates shifting on her face to give a serious expression.

"Even if it's the wrong side."

Just like before, she pauses, tilting her head to the side.

"Too late, returning. How many?"

She falls silent, possibly to listen to a reply. Then, she's speaking again.

"Hold the positions, kill the engines, and don't let them find you."

She grabs the gun off her back and dematerializes from view.

Confusion whirls around Eden's mind and she turns to Uriah.

"What did she mean by the Black Garden? And are those the Vex Jaren was talking about?" Eden questions him.

For a moment, he doesn't answer but then he hovers closer to her, settling on her shoulder.

"The Black Garden is one of the darker rumors that float around the Tower," He begins.

A few beeps and chirps sound from him and he resumes.

"Some of the older Guardians, ones who've seen the Vex more than the rest, speculate that the Black Garden is where the first Vex was born. Where they came to be. The one who created them lies there."

He falls silent again. Eden gives him a little time before speaking again.

"Uriah?" She prompts.

His optic gazes at her helmet.

"I've never seen the Vex until now. I mean, I've heard of other Ghosts and Guardians who had. I've talked to them. But I never knew it was this serious."

He floats up.

"And now, we have to go see the Awoken."

The nervousness spikes up again. Eden cups Uriah in her palms, stroking at his shell to calm him down. Once he's okay again, Eden asks, "You mean Awoken like Jaren?"

He shakes his shell.

"No. These Awoken are Reef Born. They live all the way out at the edge of the Darkness, at the Reef. At the very last place the light touches."

He flies up from her hands and glances at the broken pieces of the creatures, Vex she corrects herself. He stares at them, almost mournfully, before saying, "Couldn't we, I don't know, stay here with the murderous robots instead?"

Eden chuckles before tilting her head towards Uriah.

"No, little light," She speaks, warmly.

Automatically, Uriah swivels toward her, annoyance swelling in his optic.

"Please don't do that."

Eden laughs again before walking back towards the way they came. Uriah follows after her, perking up when she talks to him.

"Okay, okay. I won't call you little light, but don't be so nervous about going to see the Awoken. I'm here and there's the others. As long as we're together, there's nothing to worry about."

Uriah contemplates her words.

"Alright. You're right. I'm sure we'll be fine," He says, becoming more and more confident.

Eden grins at his admission and they head back to their ship.

On the walk back, Eden thinks about how she felt earlier. Whatever it was, it's gone now and she feels fine again. Eden shakes her head. Oh well. To the Vanguard now, she supposed.

And with that, she and Uriah are teleported back into the ship and flying back towards Earth.


	21. Her Smug Ghost

Eden hasn't even touched down in the Tower yet when Uriah informs her that her fireteam has pinged her. By the way he says it, Eden knows it's more than just a couple.

"How long have we been gone?" She questions, landing the ship.

"Well, we were only at the Tower for an hour before we left. We've been on Venus approximately a day and a half, by Earth standards at least."

Her eyes go wide and she whips her head towards Uriah.

"What? A day and a half?" She exclaims.

Uriah chuckles and shakes his shell. "Yes. Time does pass differently on each planet. Something I'm sure you're not used to."

"You got that right," She mumbles, standing and grabbing her things before exiting the ship. Not long after, she bumps into Lance, Axel, and Jaren.

"Where have you been?" Is there first thing from Lance's mouth.

A sheepish look comes over her face and Eden ducks her head.

"I went to Venus. Vanguards orders."

That's all they need to know for now. One day, she really does need to tell them. It's important that she not keep secrets from her fireteam but they seem to have a few of their own. Why can't she have hers?

Forest green eyes narrow the slightest bit but he closes them seconds after, letting out a heavy sigh.

"Eden, next time you just up and disappear for that long, please tell us. Or at least ping us to let us know."

A nod answers him and he begins to walk in the direction of their shared apartment, muttering and mumbling. Eden inwardly giggled at watching him act like a worried mother hen.

"Don't worry about him kid. Sometimes you're too busy in the field to be talking to other people," Axel gruffly reminds, patting her shoulder and following after Lance.

Eden smiles fondly at their retreating backs and walks after them when Jaren falls into step with her.

"So," He starts. "Got any more compliments for me?"

Her face goes bright red and her heart beats irregularly. Her mouth gapes open and she tries to find her words but it's so hard when she can hear Uriah laughing. Finally, she just blurts something out.

"I um well I mean you um, you have nice eyes. I mean in a good way. Um well, not that way but you know, like in a friend way?" Eden rambles.

She sounds so stupid right now. She knows it. But her mouth keeps talking and her brain keeps telling it to shut up but it's not listening. For once in her life, Eden wants to crawl under a rock and never be seen again. Oh, she's so embarrassed!

From beside her, Jaren begins to tremble. Eden thinks that something's wrong until she sees the smile on his face and the laugh coming from his mouth.

He's looks nice when he smiles like that, she thinks, grinning softly to herself.

 _"Oh really now?"_ Uriah drawls in her mind, pleased tone to his voice.

Her face goes beet red and Eden looks away quickly, ignoring her Ghost but her body decides to betray her. Her heart beats heavily and a swirl of warmth tightens her chest.

 _"I did say it was okay to like someone,"_ Uriah whispers inside her head.

Eden sends a flurry of half angry, half embarrassed thoughts his way but it only serves to make him laugh harder. She blows out an annoyed sigh, covering her face with a single hand. Yet again, she's managed to embarrass herself in front of her Ghost AND Jaren.

"I like your eyes too."

Eden stops.

What did he say? Did he just say that he liked her eyes? What?

Wide-eyed, she turns to look at him. When he catches her staring, he flashes her a smile and strolls forward leisurely.

"In a friend way of course."

Her heart thumps warmly and if Eden could melt into a puddle, she would. A dopey smile nearly splits her face as she walks after him. It isn't until she nearly runs into the door of their apartment that Eden shakes out of it. Embarrassment reddens her cheeks and Eden sheepishly walks in. She plops on the couch and relaxes slightly, trying to casually seem like she hadn't just been in a dazed filled crush.

"So, will you be staying with us or do you need to go again?"

A guilt filled look is directed towards Lance.

"I have to go again. I need to visit the Awoken."

Puzzled looks fall over their faces. Suspicion flirts over Lance's and his eyes narrow again, inspecting her.

"Why would you need to go see them? You have no business with them," He states, an edge to his voice.

Eden pushes the panic back below the surface and looks at him with the most serious frown she can pull off.

"Cayde asked me to. He said a new face might bring a better welcome than his metal mug and oh so beautiful horn."

A scoff of laughter falls from Jaren and he kneels over, nearly hysterical. Axel gives a grunt of amusement.

The suspicion melts off Lance's face and he seems to buy it. He sighs and waves her off.

"Alright, alright. Just don't forget to eat and rest." And with that, he's walking into his room, door slipping shut behind him.

Axel looks toward her and one of his optics darkens to mimic a blink, and then he's gone too. It's silent a moment until Jaren's voice breaks the silence.

"Cayde would never have sent a new Guardian to the Awoken."

She freezes up in the couch, nervous. Jaren shifts slightly in the chair across from her, nonchalantly turning to look at Eden.

"Whatever it is, I know you have your reasons to keep it a secret. So, I'll trust you."

Relief blasts through her body and she relaxes again.

"Thank you," She mutters, a blush dusting her cheeks.

Jaren tips his head gracefully and Eden decides that now more than ever she needs to leave. With a bright red face, she quietly excuses herself and heads for the shower. Her smug little Ghost is satisfied with himself, so much so Eden blocks it out. She'll rip him a new one later when they're alone.

With an embarrassed huff, she heads to take a cold shower.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey there guys! I'm so excited! Jaren and Eden are getting there! I hope you guys enjoy the chapter and if you're feeling up to it, tell me what you think. The feedback helps. Until next time ;)


	22. Queen of the Awoken

After having gotten some rest and a little something to eat, Eden whirls around the apartment, getting ready to leave. She mutters to herself, grabbing her guns and making sure she has everything. Jaren looks on curiously as Uriah sits in the table, watching in mild amusement.

"You know, we don't really need that much with where we're going," He reminds her.

She sighs heavily, stopping in her tracks to eye her Ghost.

"I know, I know but still."

Jaren smiles at her worried words before standing and brushing her shoulder.

"It'll be okay. Relax."

She nods and releases a deep breath, trying to loosen her frazzled nerves. A few moments pass and she's back to herself.

"Thank you Jaren." A warm smile is sent his way and he returns it. Her heart flutters in her chest and she turns away, clearing her throat.

"I um, also, thank you for walking me to the shipwright."

He chuckles and it sends a pang to her heart.

"It's no problem. I was going to head that way anyways. Hunter hangout and all that."

She nods without turning around and finishes gathering her stuff. Once she's ready, she nods to her Ghost and Jaren and they leave the apartment.

Uriah decides to float next to Jaren as they walk, carrying on a conversation. Briefly, she sees Lux peek over Jaren's shoulder but as soon as they make eye contact, the Ghost glares at her and disappears. She shakes it off and keeps walking.

As Eden descends down the stairs to the shipwright, Ava and Quinn pass by. The cheerful, little Huntress waves happily and calls out a warm hello. Val chirps out a hello to her too. Eden smiles brightly and waves hello back. Well, at least until Jaren's voice sounds from behind her, greeting them too. Then, her face goes a little red and she sends annoyance to her Ghost, who is reading her endlessly through their connection. Ava catches the looks on her, and her Ghost, and a big grin stretches across her face.

Eden shakes her head rapidly, the red growing and growing by the second. Ava laughs and waves her off but the mischievous glint in her eyes isn't lost on Eden.

The female Titan sighs and hurries to move toward her ship. Uriah zooms toward her shoulder, leaning himself next to her ear.

"Ava sent a ping. She says she wants to know all the details."

Eden groans and gives Uriah a look and ignores him. He laughs and floats back to Jaren. The conversation strikes up again and they're laughing and joking together.

Finally, they depend the last steps and Eden turns to head into the shipwright, only to be stopped by Jaren grabbing her wrist. Surprise fills her features and she turns around.

Jaren is staring at her with a solemn and dark look, something that looks very unnatural on his face.

"Be careful. The Queen isn't exactly welcoming of strangers, especially her brother. Don't talk out of line and always, always address them as royalty. Nothing less, do you understand?"

Eden nods uncertainly and he realizes her, look gone. He straightens and flashes a soft grin at her.

"Good luck Eden."

Eden can almost promise that as he walks down to the Hunter hookah bar underneath the shipwright, he winks at her. He's gone before she can question it and it leaves her feeling dopey.

She walks to her ship with a stupidly big smile (and also very much ignoring her Ghost because she can feel the smugness and teasing looks) and boards. Buttons are clicked and switches are flipped. The engine roars to life. When Eden gets the go ahead, she pushes a lever up and the ship whooshes out of the Tower hanger. They zip into space as Eden puts in directions.

They arrive, shortly, in the reef, or what she thinks is the reef.

Amethyst clouds fog up the way and pieces of broken ships and asteroids float by. Eden looks through the window, eyes wide, curious, and mournful.

"It's so broken and desolate. What happened?" She asks, searching the cloud.

Her Ghost appears and floats closer to her shoulder and starts speaking.

"During the Collapse, every ship that could leave Earth fled. I guess they made it this far and died out."

Tendrils of sadness dip down into her chest, squeezing at her heart.

"It's a graveyard," She voices, realization spreading through her.

Eden turns her attention forward again.

"So if everyone else died, how did the Awoken survive?" She queries to Uriah.

Her Ghost hums and twists his shell.

"No one knows," He answers thoughtfully.

Eden begins to respond when a voice interrupts, filling the whole ship with noise.

"Intruder bearing 127. You have crossed into the realm of the Awoken. State your business or be fired on by order of the Queen."

Panic rushes into her body and Eden turns to look at Uriah, wide eyed.

Her Ghost only returns the look and says, "Don't look at me. Better say something, quick."

Eden takes a deep breath to calm herself. Afterwards, she sits up straighter and answers the voice.

"We are from Earth and we've come to seek the counsel of the Awoken."

It becomes silent once more. The air is still and tense, much more so than Eden likes. She begins to grow worried and panicked when the voice speaks up again.

"Conform to my trajectory. Any deviation will be taken as an act of aggression."

With that, the voice dies away and Eden's almost certain it's just her and Uriah again. Eden sighs and falls back against her seat, releasing a breath she didn't know she'd been holding. After a moment, she turns to her Ghost and with a crooked grin.

"Well, it seems we're in the right place."

Uriah shakes his shell sullenly.

"Why is the right place always so terrifying?"

Eden smiles and pats his shell.

"Every new place is going to be scary, but it becomes less scary when you're with a friend," She offers.

Her Ghost brightens up, spinning his shell and landing on her shoulder softly. He doesn't say anything but Eden knows he's glad for the comfort. Uriah really wasn't looking forward to this place, and neither was she, but if she wanted to end the Black Garden, this is place to find out how.

The rest of the flight is spent in silence until they come to an outpost peeking through the smoke, and ships, and asteroids. Once they get to it, Eden releases control to autopilot, letting the ship hover. She stands, tall and straight, before turning exiting the ship.

Two female Awoken await her. They're dressed in deep purple armor with accents of gold and emblems of what Eden thinks are the Queen's. Two pairs of glowing eyes glare at her, watching her every move. She puts her hands up slowly, so they see it.

"I don't have any weapons on me," She states, turning carefully.

One moves to search anyway. Once the guard's sure Eden is telling the truth, she moves away.

"Follow me."

Eden does as she says and trails after her with the other female Awoken behind her.

She doesn't get to take in the sights because they're moving so fast but eventually, they come to a door. Both gesture for Eden to walk in first so she does.

The room is huge and very open. Right in the middle sits a large throne with banners waving overhead. In front of the throne, is an Awoken man. He turns, glowing yellow eyes glaring at her with annoyance.

"So these are the trespassers demanding an audience?"

Whoever this man is, he isn't happy that she's here. Just by the look of it, he wants her to be anywhere but here. She communicates with Uriah, asking him if there's anything he can do to smooth over the situation. Her Ghost gives a faint nod and floats away a little bit.

"It wasn't our intention to trespass."

His face scrunches up, the beginnings of a scowl forming. He faces Eden fully, standing taller. A pretentious air practically bleeds from him and Eden knows she's in for it now.

"The Queen herself judges who may or may not enter the realm. Me," He laughs a little, a cold grin growing on his face. He descends down the steps, finishing his sentence.

"I see no reason she should be available for whatever washes up on the reef. But here we are."

The man stops just short of Eden. A stone cold look crosses his face and Eden begins to feel very unwelcome. But she doesn't tense up. She remains calm and gives no expression, keeping her features neutral. This time, she doesn't let Uriah answer. No, this time she does. Something about this situation reminds her of something, however brief it was, from her first life. She has a feeling she knows how to handle this situation just perfectly.

"I give my apologies for any inconvenience I've caused, but we've come to ask for help."

Her voice is steady and calm. The man stares back at her, seizing her up. His demeanor changes the slightest but before any words can be said, Uriah cries out,"Fallen."

Eden doesn't hesitate. She turns and grabs a gun from one of the Awoken guards, pushing back and using her momentum to aim the gun towards the Fallen. She's quickly stopped mid swing by the edge of a blade digging into her throat. It cuts through the neck of her bodysuit, kissing the skin and reminding her one wrong move can end her life.

The man glares at her, daring her to move one inch. She stares back, not quite angry but not quite happy either. Eden neither the man seems to want to back down, Uriah glancing between both nervously.

"It's afraid of the Fallen. It does not understand these ones are mine," A smooth, cool voice speaks.

Eden glances above the man's head to see an Awoken woman standing at the throne. She's very beautiful and has an air of grace, wisdom, and coldness. Eden knows right then and there that the Queen of Awoken is standing in front of her.

Bright, frigid blue eyes stare at Eden for the longest time, looking her over. Then, she sits. The Fallen relax and the gun is yanked from her hand. The man draws back. Still glaring at Eden, he says, "Apologies, your Grace.

He turns and bows to the Queen and walks up to her, glancing back a few times to eye Eden with despise.

She takes this time to calm and regain her wits. With a deep breath out, she dips her head in respect.

"I am a Guardian, from Earth. We're searching for the Black Guardian."

The man stops, giving Eden his full attention. A range of emotions cross his face before it settles on distrust.

"Why?" He utters, lowly.

"We seek to destroy the Darkness at its heart."

His eyes narrow even more.

"You want to turn it into a battleground? How unimaginable."

Eden is quickly becoming sick of the games. This man has been a thorn in her side and if it weren't for her patience and determination, she's sure she would have already punched him.

"Do you know where it is?" She questions, an icy tone seeping into her voice.

"Everyone knows where it is," He quips. "The hard part is getting in."

So it's true, they do know. Her annoyance dies down the slightest bit and she turns to look at him specifically.

"Can you help us?"

A simple question that should have gotten a simple answer. But nothing ever seems simple with the man. His face darkens considerably and he gets in her own.

"And why would we do that?" He nearly growls at her.

Burning, molten gold eyes narrow at the man, letting him know he's testing her patience.

"The Queen requests counsel with her brother," The Queen states, authority pouring from his voice.

Her brother? This jerk is her brother? He's a prince? Eden pushes all the questions out of her head and watches through silted eyes as he backs down and immediately goes to the Queen, though, not without a few heated glares.

He kneels by the throne when he gets to her, listening intently as she whispers to him. As they mumble, Eden turns to Uriah and through their connection, begins to talk to him.

"Send Jaren a ping. Tell him to get the ship ready."

Her Ghost nods and she turns her attention back to the duo. Finally, two pairs of eyes, one blue and one yellow, turn back to her. The man, the Queen's brother, mutters something lowly before turning to her, a deviously innocent grin stretching across his face.

"Why not? We'll make you a key. How's that?"

He puts his foot up on a ledge, leveling her with a cool stare.

"All we need is the head of a Vex Gate Lord."

Eden stares at him, barely hearing the nervous mumble of Uriah next to her. She feels like she's being challenged by this man, the Queen's brother. But luckily, she's not so easily intimidated.

"Why do you want a Vex Head?" One of her eyebrow raises up and she looks at the siblings in mild confusion.

"Oh, we don't. And I doubt we'll get one either." That last part he mutters lowly. He turns his back to Eden and walks toward his sister, only resuming when he's next to the Queen.

"But it's your only hope of getting into the Black Garden," The man asserts, staring down at her.

Eden's resolve strengthens and mainly, to spite the man, she comments,"We will return."

"Or die on Venus," He taunts. "Either way."

Her eyes narrow at the prince but she bows to the Queen in respect before turning and leaving. The two female guards follow after her.

All she can think as she's walking back to the ship is how much she really doesn't like that stupid little prince and how she's going to take her frustrations out after this.

 


	23. Pompous Fallen's Footface

Eden doesn't speak when she enters the ship, doesn't say one word. After the encounter with that stupid prince, she's near fuming. Ugh, that stupid self-entitled prick.

She doesn't even acknowledge her Ghost, much less the concerned glances he keeps throwing her way. All she can think about is how she needs to go work off her anger. As soon as they arrive at the Tower, Eden immediately exits the ship. She walks straight to the apartment, stays long enough to grab her training clothes, and leaves again. On the way, Uriah hesitantly hovers, torn between wanting to speak and wanting to keep quiet.

Finally, with a bland voice, Eden says, "What is it?"

"It's just, should we have really taken the offer? It sounds like a little too much. I don't know if we're up for the challenge."

Eden doesn't answer right away. She thinks on it for a while.

"Well," She starts, when she finds her words. "I couldn't just let him think we're weak, not after all he did. No, we're going to show them that we can handle this and more."

It's her Ghost's turn to stay quiet. He mulls it over as they both arrive at the training arena. Eden finds the shower area and changes into her pair of flexible tights and a tank top. She finds some spare wraps and loops them around her hands before moving to the punching bags.

For the next forty minutes, Eden punches and jabs and beats the bag, releasing her anger out slowly. Between huffs of breath, she instructs Uriah to grab her a fresh body suit but before he can, a familiar voice speaks out.

"I already grabbed you one," Lance calls.

Her eyes dart over to him.

One of her bodysuits is neatly folded over his arm. He even has a towel and her jumbled mess of armor, which actually looks a lot better than when she took it off. Doesn't matter, she thinks. Eden grunts and goes back to punching the bag.

"You know, I don't think that bag could handle much more. Why don't you take a break?"

Reluctantly, Eden admits he's right. She's going to eventually knock the punching bag down altogether. With a sulky attitude, she drags herself to him and grabs the towel, wiping away the sweat.

"Are you ready to talk now?" He inquires when she's finished.

"Talk about what?" She shoots back, slinging the towel across the back of her neck.

He raises an eyebrow at her.

Instantly, Eden knows that there is no reason to be yelling at Lance for something he didn't do. She sighs tiredly and slumps onto a nearby bench.

"I'm just a little mad, okay?" Eden acknowledges, throwing her hands up.

Lance comes to sit beside her, gently placing a hand on her shoulder.

"What's the matter?"

What isn't the matter? She's been sent on a highly important mission and the Awoken won't cooperate. She wants to prove to that high and mighty blueberry that she had everything it takes to get to the Black Garden.

"I met the Queen and her brother. He was a complete jerk. I don't like him." She settles on.

A hum leaves her companion's mouth and he gazes forward, a thoughtful air to him.

"Yes, well, Uldren Sov is a bit of a distasteful character. He's never been too keen on Guardians and neither they to him."

Eden snorts. "I wouldn't doubt it. Anyone like that would be enough to drive even the kindest person insane."

Lance chuckles at her retort and puts his arm around her, giving Eden a light hug.

"Don't let him bother you. Words only have meaning if we take them to heart."

Eden nods, a tinge of her bad attitude slipping away. Lance squeezes her once more before adding, "Besides, I'm sure you more than held your own with that pompous Fallen's foot face."

Eden laughs, smiling, and hugs him back. Leave it to Lance to cheer her up, even if it was just the smallest bit.

How long had it been since she and Lance sat and laughed like this?

It's been too long, she thinks, way too long. Maybe she could hit two birds with one stone here.

"Hey, Lance?"

The warlock perks up, attention on Eden.

"Would you and the others mind doing a mission with me?"

A smile crosses his face and he turns to her, eyes bright with kindness and joy.

"I'm sure we could fit it in our busy schedule."

Eden laughs, pushing him away before standing. She stretches and sighs.

"Alright. I'll take a shower and meet you at the Hanger then?"

Lance nods and stands, moving a palm out in front of him. A ruby red Ghost appears, blinking at Eden in greeting.

"Let the others know we'll be attending the mission with Eden."

Clovis replies with a curt okay and stays still for a few moments. When he's done, he glances up at Lance with a nod. The Warlock smiles at his Ghost and then Eden before waving goodbye, leaving the training arena.

Eden smiles at his retreating back before picking up her things and heading to the showers. It takes all of five minutes for her to shower, put on the bodysuit, and armor up. Once finished, she heads out towards the shipwright.

"Eden, Banshee needs to see us. Your guns are finished."

She nods and takes a detour up to the gunsmith.

He's busy today. Tons of Guardians are milling around the stall, waiting and talking to each other. A line that stretches all the way towards Rahool makes her sigh in impatience. Luckily though, when the Exo spots Eden, he waves her over.

Eden passes along the line, the other Guardians grumbling and giving her the stink eye. She shrugs apologetically and continues to walk up the Banshee.

As she makes it to the old gunsmith, he stops talking to the Hunter in front of him a moment to turn and grab something behind her. When he moves back around, Eden sees a sleek gray and white auto rifle in one hand and a sniper in the other.

"Here ya go, Titan. Just as you ordered."

Eden thanks him quietly and hands him glimmer, taking the guns. At his request, she leaves her old ones and then with a short goodbye, she leaves and heads toward the shipwright, where her fireteam is waiting.

 


	24. Anger and Silence

Her fireteam is leaning against the ship when she arrives.

"So, where we going?" Axel's metallic voice questions.

The other two turn their heads to Eden, watching her expectantly. Uriah flies up, level with Eden's shoulder. He clicks and beeps before offering, "Venus."

Each one nods and heads inside the ship to take their respective places. Eden and Uriah move to the front and Jaren and the others to the back. Uriah quietly helps Eden set up the controls and within seconds, they're all racing toward Venus.

The ride there is fairly quiet except for some small talk between the rest of her teammates. Eden chooses not to enter the conversation, thinking to herself. She only perks up to speak when they are in the orbit of Venus.

The smooth, chartreuse planet looks the same as it always has but this time, when Eden looks at it, she becomes nervous.

Somewhere on the planet's surface, a Gate Lord is waiting for her to call it up and kill it. The task itself seems huge, but Eden won't back down. Not after all the trouble the prince gave her. A look of resolve hardens her features and a cool breath falls from her lips. She stands from her place in the pilot seat and walks to the cockpit where the Jaren, Lance, and Axel are.

"Alright Uriah, what do we have to do?" She asks, glancing to her Ghost.

A chirps ripples through his shell and answers, "Well, we need to track down a Gate Lord and then-"

"Gate Lord?" Lance interrupts.

He's straightens up in the seat, eyeing her with wariness.

"What do you mean track down a Gate Lord? Eden, is there something you aren't telling us?"

She fidgets with her fingers, looking everywhere but at her fireteam. Through their connection, Eden hears Uriah tell her that now is the time to tell the truth. Now is the time to tell them everything. Reluctance spreads through her body but she knows it's for the best to be honest and open once and for all.

"Well, we need a Gate Lord for the Queen."

They all look at her more intently now, their brows lined with skepticism.

"Why would ya need to give her somethin' like that?" Axel grunts out, his gruff accent becoming thicker with suspicion.

The metal plates on his face shift slightly and Eden could almost interpret the look as a mistrustful stare.

She chuckles a nervously and ruffles her black locks, keeping her eyes everywhere but at her fireteam.

"Well, we're working on trying to take down the Black Garden."

Her voice gets quieter with each word. The small cockpit suddenly feels even smaller as it gets silent and three pairs of eyes bore into her. After a few minutes, Lance speaks up.

"Why would you need to go there?" He asks, tone low and hard.

Shock shakes Eden to the very core and she gapes at her teammate. Lance has never sounded like that before, especially not to her.

"The Exo Stranger. She told me about it, about the dangers it poses."

Lance turns away from her, rubbing a hand down his face. Axel shakes his head muttering. And Jaren? He was probably the only one who looked unfazed by the confession. Calmly, quietly, he asks, "I trust you but I have to ask: why didn't you tell us earlier?"

Shame and guilt eats away at her, even though she knows he didn't say it in a way that indicated he is upset. She swallows a lump that has formed in her throat and opens her mouth to respond when Lance interrupts.

"It doesn't matter. We're not killing a Gate Lord and you're not going to the Black Garden. Clovis, take control of the ship and take us back to the Tower."

Her expression becomes one of disdain as she stands to face Lance.

"No! We are not going back!" Eden hisses angrily.

Lance turns to her with a darkened expression.

"No! It's too dangerous and what you're trying to accomplish is way above you. You will not be able to handle it. Do the Vanguard even know you're doing this?"

Hurt smacks Eden across the face and she gives him a wounded look. Lance had just told her she couldn't do it. Anger and distress churn through her body, stirring and mixing into a pot of terrible feelings.

"Yes, they do. They approved it," Uriah interjects, frantically looking between Eden and Lance. He knows as well as Eden that if he hadn't, she would have said something nasty or horrible.

The Warlock gives a look of disbelief before glaring at Eden.

"Oh, so you'll tell them, but you won't tell us? We'll have much to discuss when we get back to the Tower."

With that, he turns away from her, back towards her and ignoring her. Axel follows after Lance to set the destination but he does give Eden a weary look. Jaren stays where he is, glancing at her with something she can't identify. Eden turns away from him as Uriah appears beside her, nudging her shoulder comfortingly.

She's the guilty one in this. Eden knows that for a fact, but it's not going to stop her from what she's trying to accomplish, not after what the prince said and not after what Lance said. She's not giving up after everything that's happened, now now.

With an angry huff, Eden shoves her helmet on and grabs her guns.

"Eden, what are you doing? I told you-"

Eden doesn't stay long enough to hear what Lance says next because she's already on Venus with Uriah next to her. Wordlessly, she walks forward, not bothering to ask which way. Her Ghost automatically fixes her navigation system for for her, highlighting the quickest route. Her thanks through their connection is all he gets in response.

She's halfway to the Endless Steps when the familiar hum of sparrows race her way. A tilt of her head reveals it's her fireteam but she chooses to ignore them, especially Lance.

In silence, they dismount the vehicles and walk side by side towards Eden. She says nothing, and offers nothing, as they continue to walk forward. For the first time since she'd been paired with them, they don't talk, they don't laugh and joke. Lance is a ball of anger and stone cold silence on her right. On her left, Axel marches with uncertainty and hesitant steps. As usual, Jaren seems unreadable. Eden doesn't even try to decipher his emotions. In fact, she refuses to think about anything but killing the Gate Lord.

The trip is uneventful, up until they get to the steps. It still looks the same as before but as Eden gets further up the steps, she notices a raised platform in front of a big metal gate.

"So, what am I going to expect?" Eden speaks, breaking the silence.

Uriah appears before her, spinning his shell.

"Well, just a time altering, murderous robot who's three stories tall. Shouldn't be much," Uriah jokes, bumping against Eden's helmet. She doesn't smile.

Instead, she walks past her teammates and Ghost, standing on the platform. A white hologram circle forms around her and the gate in front of her begins to power up.

With anger in her eyes and silence in the air, Eden raises her auto rifle and waits.

 


	25. Fire of the Sunbreaker

The battle begins fairly quickly as the Gate Lord steps down from the portal. Armies of Vex spawn around his feet, tiny red eyes glaring and metallic voices screeching and screaming. They all turn their attention to Eden until the rest of her fireteam fires their weapons. Half of the Vex and Gate Lord turn and begin shooting back.

 _"Eden, be careful. Now that he's here, he's brought a lot more darkness with him,"_ Uriah mutters inside her helmet. She nods and then everything in the background fades away as Eden looks towards the oncoming waves of Vex.

Anger pulses through her veins and she fights. Every Vex that stands in her way is demolished just as quick as they appear. Piles of broken metal bodies stack as she keeps shooting and punching, each strike harder than the last.

She doesn't pay any attention as she's mowing down hordes of Vex, barely aware of her fireteam now. Even Uriah becomes a mere thought, pushed to the back of her mind. The only important thing to her right now is fighting and killing Vex and taking down the Gate Lord.

Somewhere deep down, Eden knows she should be focusing more on the Gate Lord himself but it's addicting, killing the Vex and taking her anger out on them.

 _"Eden,"_ Uriah quips in her mind, annoyed and worried.

"What?" She snaps, panting.

Unfazed, he answers," _Be careful. You've been inching closer and closer to him for the past few minutes. His attention may be on the others for now but it won't be soon."_

Eden merely grunts but she keeps an eye out, watching herself and the others.

Another wave of Vex appear and Eden wipes them out before deciding to focus solely on the Gate Lord. He's currently in the middle of trying to blast holes through her teammates and stomp them. Eden looks around before spotting a perfect spot to try out her new sniper. Within seconds, she's up and aiming at the giant Vex.

A soft hum leaves her mouth as she takes a shot at the white oval in the middle of his metal body.

Metallic screeches leave the robot and his glaring red eye turns toward Eden.

She takes another shot but Eden quickly realizes that whatever he's made of, it's a lot tougher than the other Vex.

The Gate Lord moves the giant gun towards her and fires. A huge bullet hits the rock she's on and Eden goes flying through the air. Varies calls of her name ring out as she hits the ground rolling. Pieces of blocks rain down around her, thudding heavily against the ground. Eden groans and picks herself up, feeling around for her guns. When she does, she grips it and turns to face the Gate Lord, only to realize that she's been pushed closer to him. He stands in front of her with his red eye glaring down at her.

For a minute, he stands there looking at her until the air around them begins to feel weird.

Eden can see everything moving... backward?

All the Vex that were previously dead, lift off the ground and piece together again. Even her teammates are moving backward, the bullets whizzing back into the barrels of their gun. Then, everything stops and the Gate Lord is staring at her again.

Her heart thuds inside her chest in fear.

That thing just re-winded time and she had a feeling it wanted her to see it, to witness the power of what it could do.

The breath in her chest leaves her as she watches its foot raise in the air. Uriah screams inside her head but all she can do is whisper his name before the Vex's foot comes down, crushing her body.

Agonizing pain alights every nerve she has. Everything in her body either breaks or smashes. Thick, red liquid drains into her throat and she drowns in her own blood.

For half a second, Eden experiences all of it, the pain and the suffocation. Then, it's over and darkness begins to surround her, squeezing at her Light.

A muffled whine of fear leaves her as she watches it crawl over Uriah and her Light.

Ice cold terror and dread pool in her soul and she wants to scream out for Uriah. Fear coils around her pounding heart as her Ghost's voice becomes a faint whisper. His warm call of Light is overpowered by the many, menacing voices of the Darkness.

They're screaming at her to give up, to release her Light, to just die.

Eden tries to fight against it, tries to push it away but it's already tangled itself inside of her. The Darkness becomes rooted in her head, her chest. It mingles with the Light within her, draining away her very essence and everything that she is.

Eden is beginning to lose herself and she can't stop it.

She cries out fearfully, her mind trying to reach out to something older than her rebirth.

 _"Eden!"_ A voice (definitely not Uriah's) calls back to her.

It's the shadowy voice that follows her everywhere, she realizes.

Hands reach out and grasp for her, pulling Eden from the Darkness.

 _"Fight, Eden, fight!"_ It screams.

Her Light flares up and a scorching, hot heat bursts out from within her. Flames hiss and crackle as they touch the Darkness, sending it scurrying away. Uriah rears up, like smoke from a smothered fire, and revives her.

Her body materializes in seconds with blue and orange flames surrounding her. With fury in her eyes, Eden holds out her hand subconsciously and a hammer appears in her hand. A sharp clang resounds through the air, drawing everyone's attention, Gate Lord included.

Eden starts to walk forward, tossing a hammer right in front of her. The Vex instantly turn into ash as soon as it hits them, flames eating them alive. Screeches of pain fall from the destroyed husks.

All the other Vex step back in fear as she starts running toward the Gate Lord. A loud scream of anger is released from deep within her and she summons up the hottest hammer she can. She throws it and it flips through the air toward the Gate Lord's body.

It hits him in the shin but it's effective. The metal on his legs begins to melt, spreading up his metallic thighs onto his broad torso.

"Eden, the head! We need the head!" Uriah cries out in panic.

Eden startles, flames and hammer retreating from her. Dread sets in as she realizes the flames aren't stopping, they're spreading faster now that she doesn't have a hold on them. She runs forward but the Gate Lord is stumbling and thundering around, screeching. Unable to get any closer, Eden watches on with horror in her eyes.

The fire has spread to the upper part of his torso now and Eden knows she's ruined everything.

Axel puts a comforting hand on her shoulder, startling her out of her pity party. He throws a nod towards Lance and she watches, entranced, as Lance reaches out with one gloved hand.

The flames stop where they are and swirl through the air toward Lance's palm. Once the fire is gone, the Gate Lord's body stops moving and collapses to the ground, pieces of limbs breaking off and turning into piles of melted metal and ash.

Eden then turns her attention to Lance, where the flames hover in his palm more docile and gentle than before. The fire dancing in his gloved hands grows smaller and smaller until finally, they extinguish. There's no trace they were ever there except for a hint of a smoky smell.

Eden heaves a sigh of relief, tears nearly prickling at her eyes.

"Thank you," Eden breathes, turning to her fireteam.

A rush of air and arms wrapping around her torso greet her.

"Eden, I thought you were gone. You took so long reviving."

The words rush out of Lance's mouth as he presses her closer to his body. Eden can't see his face behind the helmet but she could almost guarantee the worry and fear masking his usually calm features. That's all it takes for her to bury her face in his chest, nearly crying at the events that had unfolded minutes beforehand.

After a few moments, he gives her one more squeeze and releases her. Before she can move an inch, Axel is giving her a tight side hug.

"Next time, be more careful kid!" He snaps roughly, but Eden knows it's only because he was worried too.

She nods her head and he walks away, leaving only her and Jaren.

His helmet is on so she can't read his expression. A quiet, shuddering sigh rumbles her chest as he approaches her, so close they're toe-to-toe. But then, he does something Eden doesn't expect.

He gently grabs one of her hands and squeezes it gently.

The small gesture says a thousand words and more. If she wasn't ready to cry, Eden would have blushed the brightest red.

The whole exchange only lasts for a couple of seconds before Jaren, too, disappears on her.

Eden chokes back a gasp and turns back to the metal carcass of the Gate Lord. Uriah Burt's from within her armor to give her an amazed, excited look.

"You actually did it! You actually called up the Sunbreaker class!" He exclaims, flying around Eden.

She knows he's trying to distract her with the positive situation so Eden rolls along with it.

A wobbly smile stretches of her covered features and Eden puts her hands on her hips.

"Told you I'd do it and I did."

Her Ghost spins his shell enthusiastically, circling her and praising her about her achievement. Suddenly, he stops in his tracks.

"Can you do it again?" He inquires curiously, hovering closer.

Eden tries to reach out to the rush of heat and fire but there's nothing there. It's gone. A mournful sigh leaves her lips and she shakes her head. Uriah's shell droops, but only for a moment. He begins to ramble excitedly again. Something about her and the amazing things she does? Eden doesn't know but she'll let him continue as long as it makes him happy.

While he's doing so, Eden kneels by the remains of the body, staring at the dimly glowing red eye.

She understands what the Stranger was trying to tell her now. The Vex are dangerous. With the power to control time itself, they could do almost anything they wanted. Now, she has to have the Awoken help her. She needs them too!

Eden glances behind her, to her still chattering ghost.

"Uriah?"

He stops talking and turns to her, inquisitive.

"Would you mind grabbing the head?"

Her Ghost nods and zooms over, scanning the head with a blue light from his eye. Within seconds, it disappears, leaving only a headless husk.

Uriah floats up to her side.

"What now?" He inquires, beeping every so often.

A serious air fall over her.

"Now, we go back to the Queen and her brother."


	26. The Queen's Benevolence

The sound of her boots walking on the metal catwalk echo against the walls. Her pace is unhurried but quick as she marches up to the occupied throne. Both the Queen and her brother wait, watching Eden with cat-like eyes. Had it been any other day, it would have bothered her, but with all the events that had transpired within the last hour, she could have cared less.

"It's alive, and still has it's ball," The Queen announces when Eden comes closer.

Eden knows she's referring to her and Uriah but she's not offended. The Queen seems like one of those people who would choose not to humanize a person, should she become attached. She gives off an air of wanting to be cold and distant. That's fine with Eden though. She has no desire to become closer to the Queen or her brother, only to retrieve what is hers.

As she comes to a stop in front of the throne, the prince turns to eye her with a smug look.

"There is no shame in running away, Guardian. Apart from the cowardice and the failure of it, it's an excellent strategy," He mocks her, putting on a fake sympathetic look.

Eden glowers at him, rolling her shoulders. She knows he's trying to rile her up, make her lose her calm. Too bad Eden won't fall for it today. Two calm, steady breaths relax her tense body. Her posture straightens out again and her face falls into a neutral mask.

"We didn't run-" She pauses to ask Uriah his name. _Uldren_ , he whispers in her mind.

"Prince Uldren," She finishes coolly, looking at the prince with an icy stare.

The Queen moves her stare from Eden to the prince, looking somewhat disappointed.

"Was no Gate Lord slain, brother?"

Uriah stirs within her armor, annoyed. He grumbles before materializing next to Eden's head. His white shell spins only once before he corrects, "Oh, we slayed a Gate Lord alright."

The Queen regards Uriah with a curious, cool glance before turning to stare at Eden, glowing eyes expectant. Beside her, the prince's smug expression holds. If Eden had to guess, he didn't believe that she had actually done it. But she thinks he's going to be in for a surprise with what's about to happen.

"Uriah, if you would," Eden speaks, loud enough for everyone to hear.

The silence lasts only a moment, but it seems to stretch on for hours.

The sound of something transmitting into the air shifts into metal clanking against metal. Uldren's expression goes from smug to outrage in a matter of moments. Eden's mouth tips up at the corners before she clears her throat.

"As I said before, we're searching for the Black Garden."

Yellow luminescent eyes filled with rage swivel towards his waiting sister.

"They don't even know where it is."

His voice is low and harsh; he's angry and upset at the prospect Eden actually killed a Gate Lord.

The Queen merely glances her brother's face, expression blank and distant. Her relaxed posture reveals nothing as she responds, "Let us tell them. Search the Gate Lord for that which gains them entrance."

His look of betrayal at her words makes it clear to Eden that they are at odds with the situation. Eden only stands still and quiet, watching the pair patiently.

"Why?" He mutters, tone hard. "If you wish them certain death, just kill them here!"

There isn't an effort to conceal the shock on Eden's face as she watches the Queen's eyes narrow ever so slightly. The regal woman gazes at her brother with a cool, meticulous stare.

"Often, when we guess at other's motives, we reveal only our own," She murmurs softly, an icy bite to her tone.

As soon as the words leave her mouth, the prince is kneeling before his sister, eyes locked solely on her.

Eden doesn't hear what he says to her but whatever it is, it seems to please the Queen. She looks toward her brother, blue eyes searching.

"Then, please. Take what is required," She orders, authority pouring from her voice.

Eden watches as the prince forces himself from the floor and turns to her, face masked in an unhappy scowl. With great reluctance, he steps down the stairs and stops right in front of the head of the Gate Lord. Uldren stares at her with a bitter glare before yanking a knife from his belt. In quick, rough movements, he kneels and uses the knife to dig into the hardened metal of the Gate Lord head. Eden watches as he searches through the head until finally, he pulls the red optic from the broken husk.

The crimson light fades from the cracked glass and Uldren turns to her with a self- satisfied smile.

"Dead, unfortunately. A wasted journey I'm afraid," He observes, looking straight at Eden with a smirk.

Instantly, a fiery glare alights her golden eyes but before she can say anything, a smooth voice interjects.

"Perhaps. But I think these one's are resourceful," The Queen pauses, but only for a moment.

"We gift it, in sympathy for their Traveler," She decides.

Eden watches his face fall as he stares stonily at the dead eye. He's silent so long that Eden thinks he isn't going to tell her when his voice suddenly carries over the room.

"Mars. Eighty-Four North, Thirty-Two East. Meridian Bay," He states, standoffish stare boring into her.

He tosses the eye towards her impossibly fast but Eden catches it without looking away. She stores it in one of the pockets on her belt and looks toward the Queen as she rises, gracefully, from her throne. She glances down at Eden, her proud, beautiful features void of any expression.

"I have shown you benevolence, Guardian. Should the Awoken ever need an ally, I will call on you. And expect you to answer."

The quiet snap of Uldren's knife into his belt draws Eden's attention back to him.

"She's saying you owe us," He quips at her like she's stupid.

Eden grits her teeth and glares at him. If it weren't for Uriah warning her of the outcome of her decisions, she would have opened up and spewed some nasty things at him. Instead, she settles for a barely spoken, "I understand that."

Eden then turns to the Queen and bows her head in respect.

"I humbly thank you for your help, Your Grace," She mumbles softly.

Then, she backs away and turns to walk back down the catwalk. As she's leaving, Eden hears Uldren call after her.

"Good luck.... getting through the Exclusion Zone," Prince Uldren mutters, an edge to his tone.

Annoyance swells in her chest. But, instead of getting angry or agitated, Eden doesn't even respond. There's no reason to. She's got what she needed and now, it's time to take her leave. Silently, she makes her way back to her ship and goes back to the Tower, ready for some rest and relaxation.


	27. Moments Like These

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, sorry it took so long to update. I decided that I needed to revise my story and fix it, whether it be grammar errors or adding in scenes that weren't there before. You may need to go back because I did revise some chapters heavily. Anyways, enjoy the chapter and until next time :)

Eden is glad for the silence on the ship. All thanks to Jaren's suggestion that she should drop them off before seeing the Queen. It gives her time to think about the whirlwind emotions she's experienced through the day. Everything, including almost dying for good, had been too much. Way too much. She thinks that maybe a long break is overdue and Uriah seems to agree with her.

In silence, the duo flies back to the Tower and make it back to their apartment uninterrupted. No one is in the living room when she arrives so she goes to her room, slinging her helmet into one corner and setting her guns down on a work table she managed to buy a few weeks ago. Then, she grabs comfortable clothes and heads to the shower.

Five minutes later, she walks out of the bathroom, towel drying her hair and murmuring softly to Uriah.

"Eden?" Lance's voice calls out to her.

She looks in the direction she hears it from to see Lance peeking his head out of the kitchen while Axel and Jaren sit at a makeshift bar, glancing at her curiously.

A delicious smell drifts through the air from around Lance. It's one of the rare times he's decided to cook. It would have made her mouth water if she wasn't so tired.

Eden flops on the couch as Uriah inquires, "When did you get back?"

She doesn't wait for a reply as she throws the towel to the far end, curling up and sighing as she sinks into the soft cushions.

"Eden?" Uriah's voice chimes expectantly.

She opens one eye lazily.

"They said they wanted to talk to you."

Both eyes open and they have her full attention.

Lance has come out of the kitchen, a rag slung over one of his sweater covered shoulder. He looks mournful and guilt-ridden as he comes closer and takes a seat on the opposite end of the couch.

"Eden, I wanted to apologize for earlier. What I said, how I acted- it was out of line. You were perfectly capable and I shouldn't have doubted you."

A grin curls at her mouth and she crosses her arms behind her head, stretching her legs out and dropping them into Lance's lap.

"I suppose we could forgive and forget _if_ you let me have some of your tasty food."

A huff of amusement escapes him and he smiles.

"Fair enough," He laughs, standing and moving Eden's legs back to the couch.

The warlock disappears into the kitchenette once more, the sounds of clinking ringing out. Her stomach begins to growl and grumble at the thought of eating Lance's wonderfully, tasty food.

Seconds later, he returns with a bowl for Eden. He hands it to her and she immediately digs in. Moans fall from her full mouth and she closes her eyes, savoring the flavors.

"What is this Lance?" She asks around puffed cheeks, stuffed full of food.

He pauses in the middle of handing the other two bowls to answer, "It's an old recipe from my days before I became a Guardian. A chili recipe I believe."

Eden swallows down the bite in her mouth.

"Whatever it is, I think it just became my new favorite food."

Lance and the others laugh again and take their respective seats around the living room. Lance sits beside her, Axel in an armchair across from her, and Jaren at the bar behind her.

For a while, they all joke and giggle and talk until the bowls are empty and the laughter has long since faded. Eden taps her fingers against her bowl, deciding if she should break the silence when Uriah does it for her.

"I know you apologized but I feel like we need to apologize too. We didn't tell you our plan from the start and we should have."

Eden can't find it in herself to disagree because she knows her Ghost is right.

They all wave it off.

"It's okay kid. We ain't exactly been honest with ya either."

Eden feels like a child in an adult's argument as Lance steels a glare at Axel over her head. A quiet clink behind her and Jaren's on the couch beside Lance with an equally serious expression. All three communicate wordlessly until they all look away from each other.

"Well since you're so keen on having her know, why don't you tell her?" Lance sighs, an exhausted tone seeping into his voice.

Aces grunts roughly, optics narrowing at the Warlock but he turns to Eden none the less.

"There's no easy way to say this so I'll just say it like this: the Vanguard needs us for a really big mission. A raid."

Her stomach churns with dread.

Whatever a raid is, it doesn't sound good and it doesn't give her a good feeling.

Eden looks at him with something akin to a forlorn, wide-eyed stare.

"What's a raid?"

Lance situates himself so he can look at her, hands loosely clasped together in front of him.

"A raid is when a six-man team leaves to push an attack against our most dangerous enemy at the time. Right now, it's a Vex called Aethon."

He pauses and Lance seems to grow extremely exhausted but he looks up at her, green eyes kind as they ever were.

"The Vanguard assigned this to us before you were revived. It wasn't a big problem back then, but it is now. Aethon grows stronger with each day that passes and his influence becomes more and more powerful. If we don't go, there is a certain risk of him destroying everything we've worked for."

Eden thinks back to the Gate Lord and what she witnessed, how he reversed time.

If he was only a minor character among the Vex, Eden couldn't possibly imagine what Aethon himself would be like.

But, on the other hand, she's afraid that if her fireteam goes, she'll never see them again.

"When are you leaving?" Eden asks, sourness in the back of her throat.

Axel leans back in his chair.

"Not till we get full approval from the Vanguard. Until then, you're stuck with us kid."

For some oddly strange reason, that causes relief so huge that she breathes out a long sigh.

Lance hugs her shoulders knowingly. She smiles at him and relaxes back into the cushions until a frown pulls at her face and she remembers her own mission.

"Well," she starts, drawing their attention, "guess that means you have more time to help me find the Black Garden."

Reluctance shows on Lance's expression but he nods none the less.

"I suppose we could help you until then."

Her coral colored lips pull into a wide grin and she cheers lightly. The others laugh at her and they change the subject to something lighter, more positive. As Eden looks around at her teammate's faces, she can't help but cherish moments like these.

Right here, right now, it feels like nothing could ever go wrong. It feels safe and warm and comforting and Eden would give anything not to be without it again.

She smiles softly as her thoughts trail off and continues listening on to her fireteam's conversation.


	28. The Cabal Are Ugly Space Turtles

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What's up peeps? I'm back and ready to write this story! Just a few things before you get into the chapter. First off, there are only six more chapters left, give or take. This story is almost over!! I can't believe it! I'm really happy that it had come this far and that you guys enjoy the story enough to read it. So thank you guys so much and until the next update :)

"Are you sure you won't go?"

Eden leans against the wall next to the door, gazing at Lance and Jaren with interest. For the past thirty minutes, she's watched the Warlock try every subtle move to get Jaren to come with them and none of them have worked.

Like all the last times, the Hunter looks back at him, face pinched in distaste.

"Sorry Lance, you know how I feel about Mars. But I'll be happy to go with you anywhere else when you get back."

Lance sighs in defeat but smiles, good-natured, before backing up to turn toward the door where Eden and Axel wait. Eden waits until both her other fireteam members have left to send Jaren a shy smile. He returns it with his own warm grin that makes her heart melt. Eden pushes off the wall, cheeks dusted in red and a dopey smile on her face. Uriah has to practically guide her out the door and after her teammates. It's only when she almost runs into another Guardian that she straightens up and watches where she's going. Uriah snickers but doesn't say anything when Eden shoots him a look.

She continues her way down to the shipwright and to her waiting teammates. Luckily enough, Lance is already in the pilot seat, flipping switches and firing up the ship.

Eden takes her place in the back with her Ghost, settling in and placing her weapons beside her. Axel pays her no mind as she quietly begins to speak to her Ghost.

She hasn't been updating the Vanguard like she needs to be and she tells him so. Uriah is quick to offer up a solution: speak to them when they return and tell them the new information they are about to gather. Eden agrees with the idea, pleased. She ruffles her Ghost's tiny shell and sits back with a sigh, relaxing. That is until Uriah decides to tease her some more about Jaren. For the rest of the ride, it's a desperate attempt to keep her features neutral and the blush away.

When they finally arrive in the orbit of Mars, Eden is relieved when Lance turns to her.

"Alright, do you remember the coordinates the prince gave you?"

Eden sits up.

"He said Meridian Bay, Eighty-Two North. Thirty-Two East."

Lance goes quiet, probably to input the directions.

"So, you gonna tell us about Jaren or are ya gonna leave us in suspense?"

Eden freezes and turns to Axel, mortified. She thought the most embarrassed she could get is when she says things without thinking to Jaren but this? This is far worse.

Her face heats up and she stutters and mumbles but no words come out.

"There's no need to be embarrassed Eden, we've known for a while," Lance soothes from his place up front.

Lance knows too?! Had she really been that obvious?

 _Yes,_ Uriah murmurs in her mind.

Well, it's time for her to find a place under a rock and never come out again. She squeezes her arms together and looks away, shifting uncomfortably as her face grows redder.

Axel chuckles before looking at her warmly.

"No reason to be embarrassed kid, in fact, we've been cheering ya on."

Lance snorts from the front.

"What he means is, we have been betting when you two would get together. And we hope you do. Also, my guess is within the next few months of course." He winks at her before turning back to the ship's console.

She feels flattered but the embarrassment still beats it by a mile.

"It'll be okay kid, don't worry."

Axel pats her knee, the plates on his face shifting upwards into a makeshift smile. Eden returns it with an embarrassed grin before shuffling around and clearing her throat.

"So what is Mars like?"

Without turning away, he answers, "Mars is one of the places people ventured to in the Golden Age. One of the most beautiful places to have ever been settled in my opinion. But when the Collapse came, cities sunk beneath the sand, lost forever."

Lance pauses for a moment. Eden thinks he sounds mournful but before she can ask about it, he's talking again.

"Now it's occupied by 800 pound-"

"Giant, ugly, space turtles," Axel grunts, a sour look on his metal face. Lance sighs and shakes his head at the Titan.

"The correct term would be Cabal, but I suppose they could be called that as well."

Eden snickers. She thinks that maybe it's an exaggeration but either way, she'll find out soon enough.

She grabs her guns and holsters them before shoving on her helmet and standing.

"Alright, let's go then."

Axel guffaws and stands, slapping her on the shoulder.

"Always ready to take on a fight, aren't ya kid?"

Eden nods rather enthusiastically. Axel laughs some more before moving to grab his own helmet and guns.

Lance shakes his head at both of them before pressing some buttons and getting ready to head off the ship.

In less than a second, they all transmit from the ship and onto the red planet below them.

Mars isn't what she expected.

Her HUD informs her that its -81 degrees outside, colder than anything she's ever felt before. Barren lands of sand with building have sunk into them surround her. Only a few abandoned stations are above ground but they're spread out few and far between. The only thing that Eden likes about Mars is the bright sunlight that keeps the darkness at bay.

"Alright, we'll be heading through the exclusion zone. Be on the lookout for a survey base. We'll need the information from the console," Lance explains to her. Then, as an afterthought, he adds, "The best-case scenario is that we won't have to encounter any Cabal. Don't expect any light resistance if we do happen to run in with them."

Eden nods in understanding and the trio set out across the city sunk in sand. Luckily enough, they do make it to where they need without disruption. But unluckily, the place they need to be is filled with Cabal.

They stand taller than Eden. Wide bodies are outfitted in tough armor and some carry shields that Eden doesn't think she can shoot through. They croak out low moans before launching a barrage of bullets the trio's way.

They all take cover and begin returning fire back. It feels like Eden isn't really making a dent on them, that is until she shoots the helmet off one and an oil-like substance sprays everywhere. Axel is right; the Cabal are ugly space turtles. That doesn't stop them from being some of the toughest enemies Eden's fought though.

Realizing that one of theirs has fallen, the rest turn to Eden with angry roars and shoot at her, forcing her back behind cover. All she can do is return fire and keep ducking behind the wall she's at. Eden doesn't realize one has run up on her until Axel pushes her out of the way.

It happens in slow motion.

She turns around in time to see the Exo Titan smacked across the chest with a shield. Pieces of his armor fly through the air and he gets sent flying. His body soars through the air before hitting one of the buildings with a thundering crack and falling to the ground, limp.

Rage fills Eden's body and she turns back to the Cabal that hit Axel.

Lightning crackles up and down her arms and Eden moves forward, marching with purpose. The Cabal roars out her, slamming the butt of his gun on his shield, challenging her.

Eden sprints towards the ugly creature and rears her fist back. The Cabal puts up his shield but it's no match against her light.

It shatters like glass, arc racing through the broken bits to entangle the Cabal. His body disappears in a flurry of blue and a dying whine rings through the air. 

The remnants of his body don't even have time to disappear before she's rushing over to the Exo Titan, propping his body up.

"Axel? Axel, are you okay?"

He moans and one optic lights up to look at her.

"I've been better kid, but I'll live."

He holds out one hand and Slate appears, washing his guardian in waves of light. Eden sighs, relieved, before standing and offering a hand out to Axel. Slate finishes quickly and Axel grabs her hand, allowing Eden to pull him to his feet. The Exo groans lowly and wipes the dust and sand off his armor.

"Stupid space rhino," He growls, catching sight of the dents and cracks in his armor. Eden laughs, shaking her head and turning back to look for Lance.

The Warlock's body is covered in Void energy as he launches a huge ball toward a group of Cabal. The void ball is slow-moving but when it finally hits, it's so damaging that even the ground where they stood is darkened with bits of void.

"That was cool!" Eden calls out, jogging toward him. Lance ducks his head in a sheepish way before heading towards one of the buildings on the Cabal base. He finds the one he's looking for almost immediately and walks in. When Eden finally gets to the building and walks in after him, he's typing at a console.

"The Vex have made a bigger presence on Mars in the last couple of years, according to the Cabal. They don't know much about the Black Garden, almost nothing really, "Lance mumbles to himself.

Eden passes him by to stare at a faint circle Gate in the distance. Uriah pops out of her armor and stares at it with her.

"That's the gate to the Black Garden."

Eden raises an eyebrow under her helmet.

The Gate huh? She and Uriah would be walking through it soon. A butterfly feeling enters the pit of her stomach and she pushes it down, turning to look back at Lance.

"They managed to pierce through the Vex cognition mesh. Incredibly impressive for them," he remarks, astounded.

More mumbling and typing. Suddenly, he stands straight up and looks at Eden.

"I know what we can do about the eye. It mentions a war base nearby. The Cabal doesn't know it but they are sitting right on top of a vex spire."

Clovis appears beside him, looking almost as excitable as his Guardian.

"I see! We could use the spire to charge the eye so that Eden can use it to open the Gate!"

"Yes. Yes! Clovis, you are a genius!" Lance exclaims fondly.

If Ghosts could blush, Eden would guarantee that Clovis would be even redder than he usually was.

Eden smiles inside her helmet at the warm scene before responding," Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go."

Lance chuckles under his breath as Eden heads out to get Axel. The huge Titan is still grumbling about his armor when she gets to him. Amused, she watches as he glares at nearby Cabal bodies before glaring at his armor. He continues to do it until Lance walks by, calling for the two to follow after him. Eden and Axel walk after him.

They walk little ways across Mars, occasionally crossing Cabal or Vex. The fights never take longer than a few minutes, but those minutes delay the trip longer than it needs to be. It takes almost an hour for them to arrive at where they need to be, which is a huge doorway leading into a dark hallway.

He stops just short of the doorway and turns his helmet covered head to look at them.

"We'll need to go this way to get to the spire. Shouldn't be too big of a trip though."

Axel nods and surges forward, along with Lance. Eden stays back a few seconds.

The dark hallway just beyond the door is giving her a bad feeling. She doesn't like it, but she pushes it aside. She needs to go this way, whether she likes it or not.

Eden takes a deep breath and heads in.

The hallway isn't small by any means, but it's not huge either. An uneasy feeling creeps along her skin but Eden pushes it away and follows after her fireteam members. Uriah asks her if she's alright but she ignores him, hyper-aware of her surroundings.

Eden makes it to the middle of her hallway before something in her screams to stop. She halts in her tracks. Something doesn't feel right. In fact, it feels wrong. Very, very wrong. A glance behind her reveals nothing unusual. Maybe she's just imagining it all. Eden shrugs and turns back around shaking her head, only to stare right into a face.

It's hers.

Blood drips down from her hairline and runs down her cheeks like rivers. The skin of her face is deadly pale and contorted in anguish. All-consuming terror and devastation cloud her gold eyes. Whatever it is, this Eden is terrified.

Her bloodied lips are pulled taut before opening to say something. She's screaming out but there's no sound.

Eden freezes.

She feels like she's supposed to remember this, but she can't. She wants to look away, but she can't. For a few still seconds, she stares at her reflection. Then, an earsplitting scream sounds the air.

It sounds like a name but it's so jumbled and loud that Eden doesn't catch it. Instead, she jumps back so far, she hits her head against the wall and almost cracks her helmet. A low, pulsing pain drills in the back of her mind and it's steadily growing, minute by minute. Eden nearly sinks to her knees, desperately trying to pull herself together.

Uriah's voice drones in the background, low and faint. Several pairs of hands softly touch her but Eden is too dazed to understand what's going on.

_"Eden, it's time to remember."_

She looks up to see the black figure wavering before her.

 _"_ _Meet me at your second birth_ ," it murmurs. Then, it disappears and Eden is left to make sense of what just happened. But nothing makes sense. What had she just seen and what was it talking about, remember?

Eden decides that whatever it is, it's time to find out what's been bothering her.


End file.
